CVN-77 nearing completion
Posted on 10/03/2006 8:06:52 AM PDT by Jeff Head
CVN-77 to be Christened on October 7th, 2006
From the Northrop Grumman site.
On Saturday, October 7, 2006, Northrop Grumman Newport News will christen the nation’s 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, George H. W. Bush (CVN 77). The ship’s namesake and 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush, is scheduled to attend the ceremony along with his wife Barbara and their daughter, Doro Bush Koch, Mrs. Koch also serves as the ship’s sponsor and will do the traditional honor of breaking a bottle of American sparkling wine across the ship’s bow during the ceremony. Employees of Northrop Grumman Newport News and their families are invited. The general public is also invited to the ceremony. Visit the links below for additional information.Here are some of the latest construction pictures...a beautiful site to behold:
CVN-77 nearing completion
CVN-77 props added
CVN-77 Island lift
CVN-77 ready for christening
CVN-77 another view of CVN-77 ready for christening
My personal feeling is that they should go back to naming after an Admiral, and the most appropriate one as well:
Fleet Admiral (5-star) William Frederick Halsey, Jr.
The Navy got themselves into this mess 30 years ago when they named the Vinson. The budget is in large part based on politics and the Navy knows how the game is played. Wht better way to get funding for something then by naming a ship after someone near and dear? Do you honestly think we would be talking about a USS George Bush if his son had not won in 2000? Hardly. Had Gore won we would be waiting for the commissioning of the USS Franklin Roosevelt or the USS Lyndon Johnson or USS Woodrow Wilson. But now that the precedent is set there is no chance that the Navy ever going to get out of naming a carrier after Clinton during the next Democrat administration.
We have enemies building up rapidly, and their technology is not that far behind us (thanks to the bent one and those in his administration at the time).
See ... THE RISING SEA DRAGON IN ASIA
Then God grant that such an administration be forestalled for as long as possible.
In some twisted kind of way, naming a submarine after Clinton seems more appropriate.
Awesome!
This man of war can probably carry more fire power than our entire navy did during WWII.
*putting tinfoil hat on* ....Where it's the last in the class, does that mean that there will not be a "USS Clinton"? I hope that's the case....
B-chan
Former MM3, USS ENTERPRISE (CVN-65)
Naming US Navy ships after politicians should never have started, and should be stopped immediately.
Yes, including Republicans.
Given each of your earlier posts on this subject, I thought you would each be ointerested in this culmination of the construction phase of CVN-77.
Ah, but think about it. Carter was President. Carter was a bubblehead (submariner), one of Rickover's boys. And you'll never hear about a sub in the news, unless it screws up. When an international crisis happens, the President doesn't ask, "Where is the nearest sub?" he asks, "Where is the nearest carrier?"
Of all the ships since WWII named after Presidents, only 2 were NOT carriers....the sub Carter, and the destroyer Roosevelt, but FDR also was the name of a carrier, CV-42)
Since the end of the Essex class,
CV-41 Midway (WWII battle)
CV-42 Franklin D. Roosevelt (originally planned to be the Coral Sea, named was changed before christening because of FDR's death)
CV-43 Coral Sea (WWII battle)
44 - 57 skipped
CV-58 United States, cancelled shortly after keel laying
CV-59 Forrestal (first Secretary of Defense)
CV-60 Saratoga (Revolutionary War battle, also CV-3)
CV-61 Ranger (also CV-4)
CV-62 Independence
*CV-63 Kitty Hawk (Wright brothers first flew there)
CV-64 Constellation (original "Connie" was sister ship of the Constitution)
*CVN-65 Enterprise (first nuke, also CV-6)
CV-66 America
*CV-67 John F. Kennedy (last conventionally powered)
*CVN-68 Nimitz (Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, CINCPACFLT during WWII)
*CVN-69 Dwight D. Eisenhower
*CVN-70 Carl Vinson (Congressman, served 50+ years, oversaw the beginning of the 2-ocean Navy)
*CVN-71 Theodore Roosevelt
*CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln
*CVN-73 George Washington
*CVN-74 John C. Stennis (Senator, served 41+ years)
*CVN-75 Harry S. Truman
*CVN-76 Ronald Reagan
CVN-77 George H. W. Bush
* denotes ships currently operational
I would agree in principle, but make an exception for Reagan...just as with Lincoln and Washington.
January 20, 2009. This name should have never been allowed.
The problem is that the first CVN21, CVN-78, will come out before the exiting Enterprise is decommissioned. They will not have two carriers called the Enterprise at the same time. I believe the second ship will be the Enterprise and should be. Make the first the Halsy...or better yet, name it the Shanksville!
"They could bring DE 733 out of mothballs and rename it the Clinton."
I've seen that old training film, complete with short-arm inspection!!!
GB 41 could join the exclusive club that I think only Arleigh Burke belongs to....to be present at the christening, commissioning, and to ride the ship carrying his name.
Vinson and Stennis are travesties, and lower the bar for minor Presidents and political games.
Since CVNs are our top of the line capital ships, I would prefer states (like the long line of BBs), but since the SSBNs are using up the names, then either battles or symbols would be good.
I myself hoped CVN 77 would be the USS World Trade Center.
I want to see CVN-78, the USS Shanksville.
Carter could have been in that club. Was he at the Christening? I believe he has been on board.
Apologies should be also made to Ernest Borgnine,(McHale) a 10 year veteran of the Navy who fought in WWII.
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