My friend Richard is a tad vociferous on this subject:
Currently, we name carriers after Presidents. This is an abomination as previously first line aircraft carriers were named after revolutionary war battles or after ships of the continental Navy.But, he has a point. We seem to have skipped over a fine tradition for political gain. And naming ships after living people seems just plain wrong. Naming should be like sainthood. We need to give things a chance to settle before we turn the hagiographers loose to name things.
Regards — Cliff
PS: Yes, I did sign the petition.
3 comments:
Rickey Henderson recently expressed regret that he didn't retire a few years earlier, so he could have been voted into the baseball hall of fame in time to be able to return to play.
There's a reason for letting time pass before conveying such honors. While there is still time to be playing politics with someones legacy, there should be no time to consider naming something important after them. So far I'd say we're barely up to Lincoln (barely) in terms of presidential perspectives, and we need to quit this nonsense while we're still able.
My vote would be for a series of names honoring 17th and 18th century Native American political and military leaders. It's a particular point of New England pride for me, to be able to live amidst place names of both English and Native American origin. I would like to believe servicemen and women would feel the same about their boats. (And, yes, Dad being a navy man, I know--I'm using the word for irony).
Guys,
And in addition, I'd add that we ALREADY have a nuke carrier named the Enterprise homeported in Norfolk (CVN-65). So let's at least wait until we've decommissioned that hull, so as not to confuse ourselves every time we refer to either..
best,
gp
Agree on waiting for the decommissioning to commission a new ship with the same name.
ABSOLUTELY agree with Kad that we need to let names season for a while. This is a problem here in beautiful down town Lowell, in fact.
Regards — Cliff
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