[Hognose (RIP)]

Hey, they already named a ship for John Murtha.

They've been sliding down the slippery slope for a while. First, in the 1960s, they named a ship after JFK, because there was a brief national hysteria of naming things for JFK after his murder.

Then, they named one after Ike, because the other party had to have their politician remembered. That established the "tradition" of naming a capital ship after deceased Presidents. Post mid-20th century, capital ships are carriers, so every president from Ike on has had a carrier named after him (the "deceased" didn't last long when politicians' egos could be stroked). Some colonial-era Presidents had nuclear subs, mostly boomers, named after them -- so did some non-presidential founding patriots, like Patrick Henry and George Washington.

There is one exception to the Presidents get carriers rule. Because he had been in training to be a submarine officer when he quit the Navy (to run the family farm after his father died; he had a brother but the brother was a bum), they named a submarine after Carter. ironically, it's a sub fitted out for, among other things, special operations. I do not have first-hand information but the second-hand info I have is that crew of Carter take pride in their ship despite the name.

While you may say what you will about the perks of the Presidency, naming a ship seems a bit excessive. But that was the tradition, until Congress got the bright idea that ships ought to be named for themselves. The first was Carl Vinson, the next John Stennis, but the tide gates were then open.

Since this campaign of Congressional -- well, political, really -- self-aggrandizement began, the previous ship names, like Oriskany, Essex, Lexington and USS America have either been allowed to go extinct or have been used for lesser classes of ships. Many of the Marine-hauling amphibious ships bear the names of the great carriers or World War II, which often were names that traced back to the Continental Navy, or to battles the Continental forces fought (usually victories) in the Revolution.

The character of the Congressman in question does not seem to be a factor, simply his or her power or celebrity. This same Navy Secretary named a ship after John Murtha, whose contribution to national defense was a net negative because he looted the DOD budget of so much money by earmarking it for his cronies and himself. The Bureau was zeroing in on him when he went out on a timely infarction.

I guess once one of those grifters gets a ship, none of them are content with elementary schools and post offices any more.

It's not a partisan thing. I think the Democrats are slightly more frivolous in the names they put forward -- Mabus's defense of the Giffords name was weak water indeed, thanks for posting it -- but that may just be my conservative biases speaking. The fact is, no ship should be named after a living poiitician. Cripes, we're still uncovering scandals about the long-dead ones.

I'm amazed we haven't named a ship after Martin Luther King. My nephew had at least a week of instruction on him in K through 4 and was left with the impression that he was the greatest American of all time.

On the plus side, President Obama's success or failure notwithstanding, the Democrats will be on board to support at least one more carrier thanks to his election.

I don't know what's next. Maybe selling naming rights. I can see the news story now: "The Verizon Wireless battle group is being joined in the Arabian* Gulf by a powerful task force built around the USS Facebook and eleven other vessels..."

Lord love a duck.


* I know that's not the right name, but Reuters uses it because the Arabs own their very balls and nutsack, and I use it to offend the Iranians.