Never forget who they build new aircraft carriers for.

[Rex]

NOT the wounded marine that came back from Iraq. No. They name them after these guys...


Because in the end they pull all the strings and hold all the cards.

It is not just a sick America, but a sick world we live in...

So much easier to kill people, than to help them.

Cheaper to make bullets and bury people.

Than to educate kids in need.

[WCGreen]

1. Talk about a little dick syndrome...

[Lasher]

2. I was disgusted at the way they rushed the commissioning through.

They shamelessly turned the ceremony into a huge Bush family party. They've even got a shrine onboard, where sailors can go to fall down and worship the allmighty GHWB. Same with the USS Saint Ronnie. As it will be with the next one, already named for yet another loser Republican president.

[MADem]

3. The aircraft carriers are protected by a screen of ships.

The destroyers that are out on the front lines are the ones named for the Sailor or Marine.

This is not "new," you know, this custom of naming ships for Presidents and politicians--the carrier John F. Kennedy was recently decommissioned.

It used to be that you only named ships for dead people (I prefer that practice, actually). That's changed in recent years. There's a sub named for Jimmy Carter. There's another carrier named for Reagan.

Some background:
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/names.htm

[Angleae]

4. It's not that it's named after a president.

It's named after a do-nothing politician. Kennedy at least did something to earn that place as well as Roosevelt (both had carriers named after them). But then you have Vinson, Stennis, Truman, Reagan, Bush, and the aforementioned Jimmy Carter, none of which did anything to earn that place.

[Cirque du So-What]

6. I resent Jimmy Carter being placed in the category of do-nothing politician

You'd do well to review history before idly bashing one of the most respected Democrats on this board.

[MADem]

8. None of those politicians were "do nothing" when it came to the Navy.

Even if their politics was sketchy. See my post on this topic.

[MADem]

7. There's no rhyme or reason anymore. The "new tradition" is to name carriers after

Presidents. However, I have to take issue with your "do nothing" assertions. It's not always about being in the lower ranks and throwing the grenade over the hill. It's also about providing funding for the Services, and enabling them to modernize and improve their capabilities. All politics is local, after all.

GHW Bush was a pilot during WW2 (not a terribly good one, but he was young) who flew off early carriers. He was also Director of the CIA and President. His administration implemented the Post Cold War drawdown, but they never had to take the heat for it because he only did one term. As politicians go, he's as deserving as the next one. Jimmy Carter was a nuke officer from the Rickover era who would have made the USN a career if his father hadn't died--I don't think anyone begrudges him his sub, either.

Reagan, with Congress, plussed up the Navy enormously--he's responsible for a lot of promotions (and, big picture, a lot of RIFs and TERA retirements in the nineties) and a lot of substantial leaps in technological capability. That's why he got the nod.

Carl Vinson was a huge advocate for seapower. HUGE. Same with Stennis. The Navy got money because of these guys--that's why their names were chosen. Truman was a wartime commander-in-chief, and we wouldn't have won that war without the Navy. Truman also was an excellent Army officer during WW1--he wasn't undeserving, either.

If they name a carrier after Junior Bush, I'll have a problem with that. He fucked the Navy and damn near left it for dead. He robbed it of its assets to prosecute his war of choice.

[cherokeeprogressive]

9. The carrier that followed the Kennedy (CVN-65) was the USS America (CV-66) n/t

[MADem]

11. Your numbers are hosed up. Kennedy was CV-67. CVN 65 was ENTERPRISE.

http://www.enterprise.navy.mil/

AMERICA was a "Shitty Kitty" class vessel, non-nuke like Kennedy, and was sunk as a target about four years ago.


ETA--AMERICA preceded Kennedy--she was CV 66. She was launched in FEB 64, three months after JFK was killed in Dallas.

[Optical.Catalyst]

5. The next ten billion dollar boondoggle carrier will be named the 'Gerald Ford'

There is one named the 'Roosevelt', but it is named after Theodore - a Republican.

[Soylent Brice]

10. K&R