Posted on 12/31/2008 3:42:45 PM PST by SandRat
The Navy’s newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George H. W. Bush will be commissioned Saturday, Jan. 10, 2009, during an 11 a.m. EST ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk, Va.
President George W. Bush will deliver the principal address. Dorothy “Doro” Bush Koch, daughter of the ship’s namesake, is the ship’s sponsor. In the time-honored Navy tradition, she will give the order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"
The lastNimitz-class aircraft carrier is named to honor World War II naval aviator and America’s 41st president George H. W. Bush. Born on June 12, 1924, in Milton, Mass., Bush 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 time in the Navy ended in September 1945, Bush held 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 the late 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 Persian Gulf nation.
Capt. Kevin O'Flaherty, from Los Angeles, Calif., and a 1981 Naval Academy graduate, will become the ship’s first commanding officer, leading a crew of more than 5,500 men and women, including embarked air wing personnel. George H. W. Bush will be initially homeported in Norfolk, Va., assigned to the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.
Construction of the tenth Nimitz-class ship took place at Northrop Grumman-Newport News, Va., starting with the ship’s keel laying Sept. 6, 2003, and christening Oct. 7, 2006. George H. W. Bush towers 20 stories above the waterline, displaces approximately 95,000 tons of water, has a flight deck width of 252 feet, and at 1,092 feet long, is nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall. This floating airfield has a flight deck that covers 4.5 acres. Bush’s two nuclear reactors are capable of more than 20 years of continuous service without refueling, providing virtually unlimited range and endurance, and a top speed in excess of 30 knots.
The ship will support a wide variety of aircraft, including the F/A-18C Hornet and F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters, the E-2C/D Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning aircraft, the C-2 Greyhound logistics aircraft, the EA-6B Prowler and the EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, multi-role SH-60 and MH-60 helicopters, and other future carrier-based aircraft.
Gives "blowing ballast" a whole new meaning. Happy New Year!
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To me those films where anti-Reagan imho..
Most definitely. The "message" was that the "warmonger" Ronnie "Raygun" was the instigator, by his words and by the crime of bolstering America's defenses.
But, my argument is that the Soviets would have launched against a weak Carter, and the end results would have been what we saw in those movies.
The least we could have expected to see was probably something falling along the lines of Tom Clancy's "Red Storm Rising" (still his best work, IMHO.)
I agree. Valiant old ships, battlefields and most especially naval air battles. IMHO the only two US carriers with really decent names were the Midway and the Coral Sea. Renaming CV42 was a mistake and not just because it was renamed for a socialist.
Far more than he deserves in my opinion. But the Navy and Congress together have whored out the naming of CVNs for a while now.
You have to look to the big-deck amphibs to see the real carrier names now.
They can name a garbage scow after bubba.
May GOD bless her
and the Brave Heros who serve aboard her.
Getting funding for $10 billion ships takes politics. With the laying down of the Gerald Ford the last three carriers have been Republicans. I predict that the next three will be USS John F. Kennedy(II), USS William Clinton, USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (II).
I know there's a Roosevelt destroyer. They'll rename it the USS Elenore Roosevelt.
Carter made it through the Rickover screening and would have been the engineering officer on one of the follow-on subs after Nautilus. Sub-standard officers didn't do that. He may have sucked as president but he was apparently an excellent junior officer.
You mean port. The U.S.S. Clinton leans and yaws to the port side.
Yet one more reason it was stupid, stupid, stupid.
I HATE the fact we are naming our ships after politicians (exception of course for founding fathers) and civil servants ( sec Navy). There should ALWAYS be an Enterprise, Saratoga, Hornet, Wasp, Yorktown etc in the USN. Names that shine with the honor and tradition of the Navy.
Yes, you are nautically correct.
But I didn’t want to leave out the navally challenged folks from Rio Linda.
Happy New Year!
But thousands of men have done those things. And yes, they are heroes. But is it the PR these guys got? Or are they REALLY that special.
I have know plenty of guys who have seen combat. To a person, they can all tell stories of men who were more heroic (in the true Greek selfless hero style) than any of these guys.
Again, I dont mean to demean any of these men’s service. Just a philosophical question.
Excuse me, I just threw up a little in my mouth.
I can tell you of a young man that recently for thru 15 months/over 600 firefights/Bronze Star and presented Commendation with Valor by Admiral Mullen in person. He's only 22. And his platoon has done the same...there have been documentaries and features on them already and there will be a film and a book. He's my g'son. Grew up in my house. As to H.W. - It's the accumulation of a lifetime of service...and with no scandals - As to "their PR" - the republican heroes that go into politics that don't get it - haven't you noticed? Only the rats - with scratches, mostly self-inflicted.
I doubt that they would name a ship after a draft dodger. Maybe a torpedo of the clinton class.
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