US Navy Starts Work on Next Class of Carriers [Brian's Military Ping List]

National Defense Magazine ^ | May 2003 | Harold Kennedy

[Oztrich Boy]

The USS Constelation (docked in Boston) and the USS Constitution (docked in Baltimore), Post-Revolutionary War frigates are technically still commissioned ships in the US Navy. Accordingly, we can't use those names.

Are you saying that the USN has been lying for the last forty years about the existence of CV-64 USS Constellation?

And this is a paper-mache Hollywood prop?

[annyokie]

The USS Bill Clinton would be a Frigate.

[Rockpile]

Basilone won the CMOH on Guadalcanal but was killed 2 1/2 years later on Iwo Jima was he not?

[Poohbah]

In keeping with the current trend of naming carriers after living Presidents, be ready for the USS Jimmie Carter -- the "Peace Ship". After all, Jimmie was a Navy officer, a nuclear officer. And after two Republican names, the liberals will howl for "fairness".

Wrong answer--SSN-23, the last Seawolf-class boat, is the USS Jimmy Carter.

[Poohbah]

The USS Henry M. Jackson, SSBN-730, ex-USS Rhode Island.

[blam]

"The USS Henry M. Jackson, SSBN-730, ex-USS Rhode Island."

Well, looks like we have Scoop and Carter out of the way. Guess we'll have to name it the USS George W Bush, huh?

[Rockpile]

Here are some ship locations on Dec 7, 1941.

Pacific Fleet

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii----BB West Virginia--Pennsylvania--Oklahoma--Arizona--Maryland--Nevada--Tennessee--California----------CA San Francisco--New Orleans-----------CL Helena--Honolulu--Detroit--Raleigh--Phoenix--St. Louis

Bremeton, Wash. for overhaul--BB Colorado

At sea going to Pearl Harbor--CV Enterprise--CA Salt Lake City--Chester--Northampton

At sea going to Midway--CV Lexington--CA Astoria--Chicago--Portland

At San Diego, Calif.---CV Saratoga--CL Concord

Philippine area--CA Houston--CL Boise--Marblehead

Peru--CL Richmond

Panama--CL Trenton

Johnston Island--CA Indianapolis

At sea south of Hawaii--CA Minneapolis

At sea--CA Louisville--Pensacola

[Poohbah]

I am sorely disappointed that the Navy didn't try to regain their institutional ethos regarding carrier names--famous ships and battles. We need names like Saratoga, Lexington, Ranger, and Hornet to remind our sailors of where the Navy comes from, and what is expected of them.

[Rockpile]

Atlantic Fleet on Dec. 7,1941

CV Wasp--Yorktown--Hornet--Ranger--CVE Long Island

BB Arkansas--Idaho--Mississippi--New Mexico--New York--North Carolina--Texas--Washington

CAAugusta--Quincy--Tuscaloosa--Vincennes--Wichita

CL Brooklyn--Cincinnati--Memphis--Milwaukee--Omaha--Nashville--Philadelphia--Savannah

[rmmcdaniell]

Why not James K. Polk?

I think there already was a WW2 era Submarine named after him. I'm too lazy to google right now, so I'll leave that up to you.

[Poohbah]

Negative on The Jimmy K being a WW2 sub--they were all named for fish.

The Polk was built in the 1960s as SSBN 645, one of the "41 for Freedom" Polaris boats. She was later converted to a SEAL transport, and she was decommissioned in 1999.

[TruthNtegrity]

Egads, I'm feeling old. Having worked on the development of the electronics for the DD-963 class destroyers, next onto the Tomahawk missiles, and then "Patuxent River Naval Air Station" which was the land-based test site for another Navy system I worked on, I'm beginning to see the new architecture, and realize just how outdated the stuff I worked on now is. Shoot, the "Manpack" I worked on eons ago (at Litton) is now part of the electronic gear the 4th Infantry is using, and I can't believe how long it took to get from development to actual battle usage.

Seeing the development of this "transformational" defense system under Rumsfeld makes me wish I were just starting out, instead of being at the "end" of my career. Sigh.

[El Gato]

After all, Jimmie was a Navy officer, a nuclear officer. And after two Republican names, the liberals will howl for "fairness".

Let 'em howl. George H.W. Bush was a Navy Officer too, a Naval Aviator and combat pilot. George W. Bush is the first sitting President to trap aboard an aircraft carrier.

Let his buddies in China, Russia or the Palistinian Authority name a ship, or something after "Mr. Peanut".

Alas, poor Billy Jeff is unlikely to get anything beyond a ChiCom or North Korean garbage scow named after him. Or maybe a privately owned "Love Boat".

[El Gato]

Is this like a rail gun?

I very much doubt it. Probalby more like a maglev train, without(?) the levitation aspect. A linear motor.

[Rockpile]

Carrier losses.

AV 3 Langley sunk by air attack south of Java on Feb 27, 1942

CV 2 Lexington sunk at the battle of the Coral Sea on May 8,1942.

CV 5 Yorktown sunk at Midway June 7, 1942.

CV 7 Wasp sunk south of Guadalcanal on Sept 15, 1942

CV 8 Hornet sunk after Battle of Santa Cruz Oct 26, 1942

CVL 23 Princeton sunk at Battle of Leyte Gulf on Oct 24, 1944

CVE 56 Liscome Bay sunk by I-175 off the Gilberts on Nov 24, 1943

CVE 21 Block Island sunk by U-549 in the Atlantic

CVE 63 St Lo sunk by air attack in Battle of Leyte Gulf on Oct 25, 1944

CVE Gambier Bay sunk by Japanese battleships and cruisers at Leyte Gulf

CVE 79 Ommaney Bay sunk by kamikaze off Mindoro on Jan 4, 1945

CVE 95 Bismarck Sea sunk by kamikaze off Iwo Jima on Feb 21, 1945

Langley had been converted to a seaplane tender around 1937 and had the flight deck shortened. The carrier had been built on the hull of the collier Jupiter which was sister to the vanished Cyclops of WW I/ Bermuda Triangle fame.

[MediaMole]

The USNS William Jefferson Blythe Clinton will be the first ship in a new class. It will be the first floating free clinic. It will be stationed in ports where sailors are on liberty to treat them for the various "problems" they get from the local girls.

[Publicus]

"capitalize on the new nature of the ship and name it the Enterprise!"


EXCELLENT IDEA!

[Publicus]

AWESOME! Thanks for posting the link!

[Sonny M]

Rapid reaction doctrine is alive and well.

Actually, carriers in general conflict with major parts of the "new armed forces" that Rumfeld is planning on, and directly conflicts with Andrew Marshalls vision (which is the inspiration for the PNAC paper that Rumfeld is using as the blue print). Carriers are considered large, slow, moving targets. In Rumfelds and Marshalls vision, you would use alot of smaller, faster coast to coast types ships, akin to U-boats, and for air support or attack jets, move with next generation air craft, that can be farther away, but go directly and respond quicker without needing to there, it also doesn't hurt that, the theory relies alot on air bases being avalable in "hot spots". Personally, I've always been a fan of the carrier, but I do like the idea of them being upgraded, and re-done for the 21st centuary. A major feeling among the defence policy board is that carriers are part of the way wars used to be fought, not the way they will be fought.

[Saturnalia]

Problem being the Enterprise CVN-65 is still in service.
Enterprise-A? Or how about Spirit of Columbia.
I'd prefer to stick that name on the shuttle replacement, but we've had several that were not delivered.