Can't believe we don't have a Ranger, Hornet, Yorktown, Constellation, Saratoga, Lexington, or Intrepid in the fleet right now. Too many good, traditional, apolitical ship names are being passed over for politicians. Then again, wouldn't want an LCS or supply ship necessarily named Intrepid . . . Hmm. Guess we'll have to come up with a consistent naming convention.

The consistent naming went out with Tradition, Integrity, and Professionalism as core values.
You left out Oriskany, Coral Sea, Midway, and Kitty Hawk,

KEARSARGE

We have one, LHD-3.

Egads how do you forget something so big?

I blame age...well, that and the cumulative effect of passing the flask on DivThu...

I'd like to see another Comte De Grasse as well. And a Lafayette while we're at it. And bring back Perry!

Ahhh, a quick image search for Comte De Grasse pulled up this gem:

Be still, my beating heart!

Old SPRU cans had between 10 and 12 percent more fuel ( think: Range & Endurance) than the newer, improved, wider, shorter BURKE cans. Can you spell "hydrodynamics" boys and girls ?

It's the IOWA there, in her glory years that gets me, as well as the Sprucans.

I walked the decks of all three of those in that time frame. Was aboard IOWA for an OTL - 13/21 (I think...might have been 27 not 21) into Eglin mid-87...CONOLLY (Flagship for event) was other shooter that event firing afternoon before and we heloed over to IOWA to see CAPT Seaquist's crew in action. Sea stories abound...weapon deployed recovery chute while running triangle in AL to get enough updates....and kinda sorta, maybe, well, not saying', but may have landed in vcty of pot patch, Two dudes in a pickup were standing at attention, arms in the air as the SH-3 came winging in with the EOD crew wearing Woodlands camo - realized after a few moments it wasn't DEA when they were asked "Any of you boys seen a missile around here?"....Ended up driving EOD to crash site, on condition no one rated them out to their Dad...the pact was kept...

And that was after not being able to brief Eglin CO on the events, as his wife was full blown peacenik and the plan was to stage semis with barrage balloons on I-10.....secrecy worked, no balloons deployed....

Good times...oh, yes, very good times of no sleep at sea with a CDS with a commodore who volunteered for everything on the boards he saw...but doing cutting edge tactical development trials....

IIRC, the Burkes traded fineness ratio for better seakeeping. It was a decision made with everybody's eyes open.

And gained additional survivability. The numerous "sinkex's" done on DD 963's did not indicate them to be very survivable, but then again, no ship under 10k tons and 600 feet in length is terribly survivable to begin with just based on size, reserve buoyancy, floodable length, etc.)

Cue "survivability Sid" in.......

IIRC, 560K F-76, 3 sets of compensated tanks....after THawk ABL Mod (put 300 tons of lead in cofferdams in the tanks under MER #1)

But not as survivable. All those Spruance sinkex's did not suggest significant survivability.

Unfortunately nothing like that pic ever again in our lifetimes..

If we have a CHURCHILL we should definitely have a LAFAYETTE

This started when carriers were named for Presidents. Democrats had few presidential choices at the time (FDR was still in commission when Carter took office, Kennedy was already a CV , WIlson was an SSBN and LBJ was too poisonous (as much as Nixon) for a ship name.) Instead, Democrats went for members of Congress who supported the Navy (Vinson and Stennis.) I can see that, as both were stalwart Navy supporters. Mabus seems to have begun the process of naming ships for active political characters (rater than dead ones). I hope that Congress re-introduces an appropriate ship naming bill after the FY17 NDAA is complete. Given recent history, I think it is time to set limits on naming.

I'm still waiting for another Ernest Edwin Evans.

He was packing Navigator Balls 10/25/44....for sure.

He was packing everyone's balls that day

Entire crew, and those of ROBERTS, HOEL, HEERMANN, RAYMOND, DENNIS, JOHN C BUTLER all seem to have had them issued by the SUPPOs...

No room for another U.S.S. Thomas Jefferson? Doesn't the Navy owe him? Or how about the U.S.S. William H. Taft (it could lovingly be nicknamed "the big stick")

Actually, Jefferson promoted naval militia crewed gunboats and stifled a real Navy(as being too aggressive and possibly aristocratic) until the Barbary Pirates squeezed him into a somewhat more realistic attitude. Needless to say, the gunboats proved useless when the British came calling a little later. No friend of the Navy he (nor was HST, an otherwise admirable man in many ways).

The TR is already our "Big Stick".

Taft now--

Just think Taft would be appropriate for a PACFLT carrier. Just sayin.... and then how about "The Judge" as the nickname. As in "Here comes the Judge!"

BZ! I respect Jefferson in many ways, but his naval policy was a disaster.
John Adams, definitely. James Madison. Andrew Jackson (got to respect a man who fought duels). Chester Arthur (President when the modern Navy got started).

Dare I propose the Andrew Jackson, especially since he looks like he's getting kicked off the $20? Nah . . . let's not go there (and for the record, I'm not seriously proposing it). Still, the battle of New Orleans was an interesting one.

Another SSBN that could be a carrier.

Led by a leader, who commanded a local militia to greatness. Yeah, I'm for that one...

... who my ancestors fought next to in the Battle of New Orleans.

You mean under Jackson, CDR?

Jefferson was an SSBN. It could certainly be a carrier. John Adams could be as well.

True...the SSBNs in particular absorbed most of the non-objectionable names on both sides.
IF they were going to name CVNs after people (bad idea), they should have made it a point to use great war leaders. Nimitz, yes...Eisenhower, maybe. Patton? There's a name to conjure fighting power with....

Patton has already had like twenty-leven tanks named after him. He can bloody wait. ;)

Naming ships after Army guys. Meh. Have we run out of naval heroes already?

Agree, but the carrier became so expensive (over $2 billion after Teddy Roosevelt) that perhaps only a President's name would do? The AEGIS cruisers took many of the old carrier names as did the LHD's. Too many of the possible "war leaders" were Army types and the Navy never votes for anything benefitting the Armry.

We've gone full USSR now. This is equivalent to the Soviet Navy naming their ships after Sverdlov, Ordzhonikidze, Zhdanov, Molotov, Kalinin, Kaganovich, etc. The point of the name is purely ideological.

I could see Vinson--even JFK. As to the rest: I'm weeping already.

I would even give up Ford & Reagan. There's plenty of highways and bridges out there...

Yes, and in RR's case, an airport.

Dare we hold out that the next administration appoint a SecNav bold enough to have renaming ceremonies for offending vessels? November cannot come too soon.

November will come, but the aftermath may not hold the relief we are looking for. It's hard to be optimistic when the best candidate is None of The Above.

The only sure bet is.. for a change the next POTUS will be someone who sleeps with women.

Snicker, snicker ..... report to re-education right away.

Thanks DR. I may not be able to get that vision out of my head anytime soon.

As the kiddiewinkees say: "OMG".

I blame the GOP network for putting us in this corner. Secondary blame to the politicized MSM.

Why? Consider in Nov 2004, we knew GWB had the conn for 4 more....but, someone else was needed in 2008. Had anyone bothered t0:

1) Layout a vision for the next R vying for office
2) Hold "tryouts" and then staffing the team, followed by a rigorous practice and game schedule

Well, we did the go along to get along, it's this guys "turn" (like Ds are doing with #killary now), and the electorate was luke warm at best. Chalk up a loss.

There was an "autopsy," but did anyone pay attention? (I know we excelled at drafting lessons learned, which we then ignored as hard as we could in the Fleet, too, so not like we're such experts at this)

Coming into 2012, still nothing visionary, let alone even more luke warmness, and another loss on the board....

Here we are, emulating Army Football.....actually, on typing that, I think that's a serious slight to the Amry players who actually hit the field, practiced and played hard for the last 14 years...unlike the GOP.

The outcome of today's bills in the Senate will tell me if we're lost, or maybe we can pull out of the dive with altitude to spare....

Add in the fact that the GOP has utterly failed to do what we sent them to congress for.

Exactly, but sure managed to jump on the Pelosi/Reid/Feinstein/Clinton/Rangel "ultimate insider trading" crew....

What !?! War-profiteer Feinstein (via hubby Richard Blum)...never. You forgot Murtha [escaped prosecution by assuming room temperature]