Posted on 10/04/2006 12:28:14 PM PDT by meandog
Navy to Christen Aircraft Carrier George H.W. Bush
President George W. Bush will deliver the principal address at the christening ceremony of the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, named for his father, former President George H. W. Bush, at a 10 a.m. EDT on Saturday, Oct. 7 at Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipyard, Newport News, Va.
The last of the Nimitz-class carriers is named in honor of World War II naval aviator and America's 41st President of the United States, George Herbert Walker Bush. The former president was born in Milton, Mass., on June 12, 1924, and began a lifetime of service to America when he joined the Navy on his 18th birthday as a seaman. He became the youngest pilot in the Navy at the time, receiving his commission and naval aviator wings before his 19th birthday.
Bush flew the Avenger torpedo bomber in combat from the carrier USS San Jacinto. During an attack on enemy installations near Chichi Jima in September 1944, his plane was hit by enemy fire while making a bombing run. Although the plane was on fire and heavily damaged, he completed a strafing run on the target before bailing out of the doomed aircraft. Bush parachuted into the sea and was later rescued by the Navy submarine USS Finback. He was later awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals for his Navy service in the Pacific theater during World War II.
After his Navy service ended in September 1945, Bush served America in a number of public service roles that included two-terms as a U.S. congressman from Texas, ambassador to the United Nations, chief of the U.S. Liaison Office to China and director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He then served two terms as vice president under former President Ronald Reagan before being elected himself as President of the United States in 1988. As commander-in-chief, Bush led the United States and a coalition of nearly 30 other nations during Operation Desert Storm, which ended Iraq's invasion of Kuwait and liberated the people of the small Persian Gulf nation.
Doro Bush Koch, daughter of former President George H.W. Bush, will serve as ship's sponsor. The ceremony will be highlighted by Koch breaking a bottle of American sparkling wine across the ship's bow to formally christen the ship, which is a time-honored Navy tradition. The former president and his wife, Barbara, are scheduled to attend the ceremony.
America's carriers serve a vital role in the defense of the American people. Deploying around the globe in support of U.S. interests and commitments, U.S. aircraft carriers are in place to immediately respond to emerging military and humanitarian crises and in various roles ranging from peacetime presence to full-scale war.
Capt. Kevin O'Flaherty, a native of Los Angeles, Calif., and a 1981 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, is the prospective commanding officer. In that capacity, he will be responsible for more than 5,000 crewmembers, to include the embarked air wing, when the ship is commissioned and fully operational.
Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, at 1,092 feet in length and 97,000 tons displacement, are the largest warships in the world. Traveling at speeds in excess of 30 knots and with flight decks encompassing 4.5 acres, they can easily support an air wing of about 75 aircraft.
And why was Ross Perot so successful?
Heh. I would go for the "William Jefferson CLinton Institute for Sexual Predators."
We are too keen to trash anyone who isn't like us 110%.
"the toon had only 43% of the vote!"
GREAT Presidents don't allow a litte man from Texas undermine them.
You can blame Perot, but Perot outflanked Bush on many conservative issues.
Bush served on a carrier, and a carrier is named for him. Carter served on a sub (though he left the Navy before it sailed), and a sub is named for him. It works for me, much more so than naming a carrier for John Stennis, whose contribution to the Navy consisted of making sure that it spent enough money in Mississippi.
Waiting for the day America sees the truth about the most immoral scumbag to waste space in the White House.
May the USS George H. W. Bush project American power to every corner of the earth for a generation.
You could put Micky Mouse or Joe Schmo on the ballet and they would get as many votes as Perot @ 17%. Makes some folk feel powerful = and in any society, on any subject, you will have an average of 20% fringe on any given subject...You say "The sun rises in the East." They will say say "Uh, uh. The West!"
Or was Perot a flunky for the dimRAts - who got paid off handsomely in gov't contracts? (or was that just a coincidence?)
I don't denegrate his service, but would like to point out that it was no more exemplary than the majority of naval pilots in WWII. He was awfully young then, 20 or so, and was shot down late in the war--incidentally, the only one on the mission out of his squadron and the only one to survive the crash to be picked up by a submarine. His service alone doesn't rate him a carrier, nor should being president. I personally would have perferred among the 20th centry presidents: USS Gerald Ford, USS Woodrow Wilson, USS Calvin Coolidge ... or some 18th or 19th Century figure did more in building up the Navy, USS John Adams, for example.
Yeah, I know, I was on two of them.
concur!
Had Carter ever commanded a nuclear submarine there would be no doubt, IMHO, that it would have been somewhere in the depths of the Atlantic basin now a la USS Thresher and USS Scorpion.
Think they will ever name a carrier the USS Jimmy Carter or the USS BJ Clinton? Would anyone serve on it, if they did?
As I said before, a great president does not let a litte man from Texas beat him.
you posted:
GREAT Presidents don't allow a litte man from Texas undermine them.
I must be tired - I don't get you r meaning...
Actually, I think it was closer to 20%
He was a three term right-seater, wasn't he? Oh - you're counting the time the left seat went vacant for a while - right?
Where is the ACLU with the Navy using the trem "CHRISTen"?!
Perot outflanked Bush on many conservative issues.
Or was Perot a flunky for the dimRAts - who got paid off handsomely in gov't contracts? (or was that just a coincidence?)
LOL
they're slipping up
One can hope the bill to stop paying their lawyers out of our pockets makes the last hurdle.
Then they'll have to turn to Soros-like folk or fold.
In any case, it should cut down on their headlong suits determined to sink this country into Socialism
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