Future USS Doris Miller (CVN 81)

[Griz882]

@snake020 is right, this isn’t a hill worth dying on. While I agree we shouldn’t be naming carriers after people (especially politicians) it is interesting to note that this was a tempest in a teacup back in WWII when they commissioned CV-13 as the USS Franklin (not USS Benjamin Franklin) Some people claim she was named for Benjamin Franklin while others say it was named in honor of a prior warship named Franklin, while others still say it was intended to meet the Essex Class naming convention of using battles for the Civil War battle in Tennessee.

After the war the navy cleared everything up by noting the carrier was named after the 1815 Ship of the Line, Franklin (specifically named for Ben, but not named Benjamin Franklin) but finally got it right with the fully named USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640). Hope that clears things up.

 

[Randy Daytona]

@snake020 is right, this isn’t a hill worth dying on. While I agree we shouldn’t be naming carriers after people (especially politicians) it is interesting to note that this was a tempest in a teacup back in WWII when they commissioned CV-13 as the USS Franklin (not USS Benjamin Franklin) Some people claim she was named for Benjamin Franklin while others say it was named in honor of a prior warship named Franklin, while others still say it was intended to meet the Essex Class naming convention of using battles for the Civil War battle in Tennessee.

After the war the navy cleared everything up by noting the carrier was named after the 1815 Ship of the Line, Franklin (specifically named for Ben, but not named Benjamin Franklin) but finally got it right with the fully named USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640). Hope that clears things up.

That seems odd as CV-13 was nicknamed “Big Ben”. World War 2 GI Diary had an entire episode on her, which if I remember correctly, had the highest casualty count on a ship that did not sink - and also had the famed Black Sheep of VMF-214 aboard when she got hit by a kamikaze.

 

[Griz882]

That seems odd as CV-13 was nicknamed “Big Ben”. World War 2 GI Diary had an entire episode on her, which if I remember correctly, had the highest casualty count on a ship that did not sink - and also had the famed Black Sheep of VMF-214 aboard when she got hit by a kamikaze.

I think most people clearly felt the ship was named for Ben. This is why I called it a tempest in a teacup - mostly the naming debate, as related to this carrier, was pure nerdery.

 

[CommodoreMid]

For politicians/people who made their acclaim outside the military, I would love to see something prohibiting a vessel, base, etc being named after them until 50 years after they left office and/or did the big thing that got them worthy. Would allow time for their merits to stand up against history and prevent gargling balls.

 

[ChuckMK23]

For politicians/people who made their acclaim outside the military, I would love to see something prohibiting a vessel, base, etc being named after them until 50 years after they left office and/or did the big thing that got them worthy. Would allow time for their merits to stand up against history and prevent gargling balls.

50 years may not be enough as we see with Chavez!