Navy to name aircraft carrier after Ford

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"The Navy will name its next aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in honor of the president who was buried Wednesday in his home town of Grand Rapids, Mich., officials said.

The Navy had not planned to make the announcement yet, but Donald H. Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary who served in the Ford administration, divulged the news during his eulogy at the funeral.

"How fitting it would be that the name Gerald R. Ford will patrol the high seas for decades to come in defense of the nation he loved so much," he said.

Later at the Pentagon the Navy confirmed that it would make an official announcement "in a few weeks." It said it was still working on details of the ceremony with members of the Ford family."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/ford_carrier_1

[whistle]

1. Loose lips sink ships! Rummy is such a dummy jumping the gun like that

[Conscious Confucius]

17. USS Al Gore?

Is one commissioned yet?

[Springster]

19. Al was in the Army - perhaps a tank n/t

[JeffR]

2. Another rusty Ford, in the making

:shrug:

[sofa king]

20. Found On Roads Dead?

Hampton Roads, that is.

[LiberalinNC]

3. Let's get real...Rummy wanted the credit given to him for the naming of the ship!

[TheCowsCameHome]

4. Will it be as big as some of the land barges Ford builds now?

Great. A Forrestal class SUV for the huddled masses.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

6. Forrestal class? Oh, man... no way

too cold war.

Nimitz is the current class.

The only Forrestal Class still stinkin up the seas is the Kitty Hawk.

[originalpckelly]

15. It'll be about the same size:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CVN-21

The new ones will hopefully cost less to build and operate.

[JohnyCanuck]

5. in defense of the nation he loved.........

Soldiers and Imperial Presidents

By Charles Sullivan

The vast majority of those who serve in the United States military probably do so with the best of intentions and with honor. The belief that they are defending their country from foreign attackers and doing their patriotic duty as citizens is persistently reinforced. Military service is one of America’s sacred cows; it is something that is rarely questioned and is surrounded by an invisible aura of nobility. No one, especially those who serve, wants to think of their time in the military as anything less than honorable and worthy of glorification.

But the trouble with sacred cows is that they tend to preclude critical examination and often escape the scrutiny of rational thinking and moral judgments. The premise of honorary military service thus goes virtually unchallenged, and often becomes the essence of dogma. But it seems to me that anyone contemplating a military career, especially since it may require killing other human beings and broad scale environmental destruction, should do so with open eyes and clear senses. They need to know who they are serving and whose interests they are protecting.

There is no escaping the fact that the U.S. is an imperialist nation conceived in genocide and racism that has continued through the ages, and worsened with the rise of modern technology and weaponry. With the advent of smart bombs came stupid and immoral leaders. Our litany of crimes against earth and humanity are concealed under layers of moral language, but the actual deeds belie the intent behind what is being done in our name. Ignorance, however, does not absolve anyone from culpability.

SNIP

There is nothing noble or moral about invading defenseless sovereign nations and killing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of innocent human beings. There is no morally justifiable way of making occupation and the outright theft of natural capital, such as oil, respectable or gallant. Genocide and theft are crimes against humanity, regardless how the corporate advertisers and public relations firms couch them; and the military is complicit in the commission of those crimes, whether they are ignorant of their role in them or not.

http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=713

[saigon68]

22. The Evil Son of a Bitch vetoed the Viet-Nam GI Bill as inflationary

He was, is and will forever be scum to me.

[dipsydoodle]

7. Better than

Edsel I suppose.

[TheDebbieDee]

8. Just wondering..........does FDR have any USS named after him?

What about Truman or Johnson or Carter? Not that President Ford doesn't deserve to have a ship named after him, but should he get one before Johnson (if indeed that is the case), who's been dead for 30 years?

Why is there always a rush to name USSs after repuke Presidents?

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

10. Sorry to say, but you are mostly wrong on your points.

USS Harry S Truman CVN-75 Commissioned 07/98

USS Jimmy Carter SSN-23 Commissioned 06/04

USS Roosevelt DDG 80 Commisioned 10/00

No USS LBJ, but no USS Richard Nixon either.

Edited to add USS Roosevelt

[lapfog_1]

11. Yes, The aircraft carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt.

stricken from the roles in 1978. There is an active duty aircraft carrier currently in service named after Teddy Roosevelt.

The Harry S. Truman is a multi purpose Aircraft Carrier which is still in service. (just completed sea trials after a retrofit and refurb)

Carter, in breaking tradition from naming aircraft carriers after Presidents, will likely have a submarine named after him. ( Edit to add that he already HAS a submarine named after him ).

Reagan, H.W. Bush both have ships named after them (Bush I has yet to enter service, still listed as under construction).

And, of course, the John F. Kennedy is an active duty multi-purpose Aircraft Carrier.

AS a rule, Battleships (of which none are left in active service) are named after states.
Submarines are named after cities.
Carriers are named after Presidents or sometimes other people of longstanding service (see Carl Vinson).

Rules are made to be broken of course, so you have things like the USS Rickover, a submarine, named for Admiral Rickover.

[Show_Me _The_Truth]

12. SSN Carter is breaking tradition b/c he was a submarine officer.

N/T

[lapfog_1]

16. Yeah, I just assumed everyone knew that. Should have spelled it out. - n/t

[TheDebbieDee]

14. My youngest brother was assigned to the USS Detroit......

during the First Gulf War but I think it was a tanker/supply ship.

I'm glad President Carter and President Franklin D. Rossevelt have ships named after them.......I guess we need to work on getting ships named after President Johnson and President Clinton.

[karlrschneider]

9. Will it have magnetic bumpers?

...?

[mitchum]

13. Naming a tarp after Ford would be more appropriate

[Sherman A1]

18. This is really old news

the ship had been named for him in some appropriations bill a long time ago, by our esteemed Republican led Congress. It is the next carrier following the USS George HW Bush (or as I call it - The "USS Pandering to the Boss" as it was named by the W's Secretary of the Navy early in his first term). See GlobalSecurity.org if you want more details.

[daleo]

21. As it sails past the U.S.S. Nixon

The latter will signal "pardon me".

[superconnected]

23. Does anti-christ have ship yet?

I mean the current biggest thug on the planet.

[mediaman007]

24. Glad that its Gerald Ford, not Edsel...

just sayin'

[benEzra]

26. LOL (n/t)

[damntexdem]

25. Will it be able to sail and chew gum at the same time?

How long before it accidentally sinks?

[Zhade]

27. Aircraft carriers are engines of death, so it's appropriate.

I'm sure many in East Timor would agree.