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.
According to the story, this is the last of the Nimitz class carriers. The future will probably be tiny carriers that launch UAVs off their decks. One good thing about USS Bush is that it will in all likelyhood retire the USS John F. Kennedy.
GHW Bush is and was a good man, so I don't object in the absolute sense. But I have two RELATIVE objections, if that makes sense:
1. Aren't others more deserving? (Or is the field of names artificially narrowed due to a convention limiting new carriers' names to former presidents?)
2. I just never like to see physical monuments to persons who are still living, with possible exceptions for those who are no longer mentally with us (e.g., I think the Ronald Reagan was named while RR was still physically alive but deep in the throes of Alzheimer's, unfortunately). Think of all the public works in W.Va. that Sheets Byrd has named after him. "Couldn't it wait?" is what I'm often wondering.
Have you ever bothered to read his war record?
Reagan was a great man and deserves every accolade he has even gotten - or will.
But just dam*n, Bush, Sr., spent his entire life in the service of this country = and his war record was heroic = altho' you'll never see a movie or book or TV special about it, because he's not a democrat.
you jonny-one-notes are pitiful. Hopefully you aren't-weren't-won't be parents. Poor kid makes just one mistake and they're doomed for life - wiped out anything and everything good they did before or after.
OF course it's a given that YOU never, ever, in your entire life, ever made one mistake. Else how could you be so pontifically pompous...
I agree. An honor such as this should not have been given to a one-termer
I've always wondered why the JFK was such a dud...
OF course it's a given that YOU never, ever, in your entire life, ever made one mistake. Else how could you be so pontifically pompous...
Name an aircraft him to honor his war record.
Maybe you need to ask yourself why he was a ONE TERMER?
It repulses me that Jimmy Carter had a sub named after him. I would rename a vomit bag for Jimmy.
I see it as a combination honor in recognition of, not only his presidency, but his war record as a fighter pilot.
And one long lifetime in between of distinguished public service.
Good grief, you sound like a pack of du'ers
"I see it as a combination honor in recognition of, not only his presidency"
Of course you want to base this honor on his Presidency.
He could not even beat the Slickster.
Ya wonder what they use Clinton's name on!
Wonder if they have any garbage scows they could tag with his moniker..
Great picture. You are missing female trailer trash though.
A ship bearing Clinton's name shouldn't be HAULING garbage....
It lowers the honor of the one given to Reagan.
"Read My Lips' "No New Taxes" one termer did not deserve to be honored in the same way as Reagan.
Oh, stop it! George HW Bush served this country honorably and with distinction. His worth as a politician is debateable, but not his service in defence of our nation.
I'm probably wrong but in my memory, only Bush and Carter have gotten a "real" pass--and neither deserve it as both were one-term flops. Carter got a sub because he was a Adm. Hyman Rickover product and a crewmember on one of the boats (actually, according to some of the people who knew him, he was an absolute failure who almost surfaced a diesel boat under the USS Hornet when he was on watch as OOD). Bush probably got a carrier because Rumsfeld wants to suck up to junior as a way of keeping his job despite his abysmal record in fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Not one of the better presidents, but his military service does justify such a naming.
"Oh, stop it! George HW Bush served this country honorably and with distinction. His worth as a politician is debateable, but not his service in defence of our nation."
That is true. But don't lower the honor given to Reagan to a one-termer.
It lowers the honer given to Reagan.
USS Clinton more like this...with Monica at the helm.
First of all he never flew fighters, he was an Avenger pilot.
And one long lifetime in between of distinguished public service.
Well, perhaps he was a decent CIA director...and his career should have ended there, IMHO!
You politely responded with, Good grief, you sound like a pack of du'ers
Perhaps you meant to direct your reply elsewhere. I like GHWB but he made an enormous mistake as Pres by breaking his tax pledge. My biggest misgiving is that he's still very much alive, and I just don't like monuments to the still-living.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.