Supercarrier named after George H.W. Bush commissioned

They'll call the USS Bush "Big Poppy."
Carter, appropriately, got a nuke sub named after him.
Kind of sucks for people in the Army and Air Force - they're closing bases so you'll never see another person get their name on a base.

 

Ship names come and go. The point about carriers being named after famous battles, those names currently go to cruisers. Carriers get big names (presidents, major admirals). Destroyers and frigates get lesser known but not unimportant people. Tridents subs are named for states. Fast attacks are city names. Most of your amphibious ships get famous Marine battle names.

As a true former tin can sailor, I just about spit out my beer when someone called a battleship a tin can.

Why do we need that many carriers to protect our shores? Because the best way to protect our shores is to take the fight to the other bastards' shores.

 

Because only one person can know something about something? And we don't need 11 to defend ours, but since we have those little annoying things called allies, and other little bothersome concepts like overseas interests, we have some other responsibilities.

Please, though, call me another name. I especially like that. I know you've got nothing left in your tank when you start fumigating with "stooge" and "foof" and other such gems of your vast intellect.

 

Actually, Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarines got city names. I was on USS Grayling (SSN 646), a Sturgeon-class sub. They all go fish names. There are two new classes of fast-attacks: Viriginia and Seawolf. Virginia-class boats get state names, too. Seawolf is a hodge-podge; one named for a fish (Seawolf), a state (Connecticut) and the only U.S. president who was a nuclear-trained submarine officer (Jimmy Carter).

 

Correct. I was generalizing. I don't know much about newer or older ones. I'm more familiar with the 688 boats. I really had nothing to do with subs ... except hunting for the Soviet variety!

In truth, it seems just about ever class has one or two misfits. The old Trident subs with the state names had the Henry M. Jackson. The Tico class cruisers with the famous battle names has the Thomas Gates mixed in.

Weren't the older Polaris subs people names? Seems I remember a George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in that class. I might be wrong.

 

The Vikings prefer a different kind of shipboard adventure these days.



Make love, not war.

 

Let's look at it from this perspective. If you have one carrier in the Med/Atlantic, another in the Persian Gulf, one in the Indian Ocean and one in the Pacific (believe me, you need them in all locations), that leaves 7 carriers. Of those seven, at least two are in an extended stay in a refit/overhaul facility, which keeps them out of service. The other five are almost always either being fixed or out to sea on short training missions.

That explains the 11 we currently have.

 

At a cost of what, counting the support systems that these things carry along with them? This should also factor in that two of the 11 are always being overhauled.

 

Sorry maties, my knowledge of squid slang is limited to my grandpa and a Beverly Hillbillies episode.

I honestly googled it.

 

Not sure what costs run for maintenance, but it's a constant part of any vessel's schedule. Call the Navy hypervigilant about their insistence on maintenance, but I'd prefer it that way to something breaking or happening at a critical point. That's how people die, unforunately.

 

Ask a Marine the value of an aircraft carrier. There is no sweeter sound than a Navy fastboy coming in low.

Fenian asks what needs to be asked, are they worth it? The future is not likely to be ruled by super carriers, Rather there will be smaller, faster platforms for armed drones, attack helicopters and vertical launched close air support.

See, I'm now a military expert. Who knew?

 

Actually, from what I've read, the future of naval warfare lies in submarines because of satellite imagery, etc.

A subsurface Ford-class carrier ... that'll be a neat trick.

Meanwhile, I'll go back to my only other exposure to naval knowledge ....