The Brickmuppet is not happy with the current naming scheme for American CVN's.

Ubu links to an article in the Guardian which talks about that exact same subject, and then suggests new themes for naming. (why not a "USS Lina Inverse", for instance?) Coincidence? Great minds thinking alike?

I would point out one of the strangest names for ships in the history of the US Navy: USS George Washington Carver. It was a Poseidon missile sub. Considering that Carver was a pacifist, naming a boomer after him was a bit incongruous.

At least the ships of the gator navy still have names that mean something. LHA's are named after battles in which the Marines participated. And most of the LHD's are, too. The ones that don't are named after famous ships (Essex, Wasp).

And there's going to be what amounts to a light carrier called "USS America" in the gators, too.

There are some commitments that shouldn't be broken. In WWII there was a destroyer escort named "USS England" which was named after ensign John C. England, who died at Pearl Harbor.

In May, 1944, over a two week period USS England used the hedgehog to sink six Japanese submarines. In response, Admiral King radio'd "There'll always be an England in the US Navy."

But there isn't. There was a guided missile frigate named "USS England" beginning in 1960, but it was decomissioned in 1994 and now there is no ship with that name.

There's a Wasp (it's an LHD) but there's no Hornet in the US Navy. There's no longer a Saratoga in the US Navy. There's no longer a Lexington.There's no longer a Yorktown. The three greatest battles of the American revolution are no longer commemorated that way. (Lexington was the opening shot of the war. Saratoga was the big surprise win, the first time a major British force surrendered. Yorktown was the last battle.) Maybe, if we're lucky, someday the gators will get those names too.

And the greatest indignity? There's a USS Enterprise, but it's a building in Illinois.

I'm not sure I want to see USS Ferocious or USS Bloodthirsty or USS Kick-them-in-the-balls; the British can have those kinds of names. But ship names should really mean something if you ask men to go out and fight and maybe die in them. They should have names that inspire, names worth fighting for.

I shudder to think that someday one of our carriers will be called "USS Bill Clinton". But I fear it'll happen. They already named ships for Ford, Carter, Reagan, and Bush Sr. Clinton is next in line.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Weird World at 07:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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