Peace Through Strength
The Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, was commissioned in an impressive ceremony on Saturday. As seen on CSPAN, it included fond remembrances of the great man himself (the ship’s namesake), low level fly overs from jets of the ship’s own air wing, and the still dignified and elegant Mrs. Reagan proudly announcing “bring her alive!,” followed by all 5,500 sailors charging over the gangway and into position on the upper decks.
The most impressive part of it all was the ship itself, rising 20 stories above the waterline. 1,092 feet long (including a 4-1/2 acre flight deck), 95,000 tons displacement, maximum speed of 30 knots, carrying 80 aircraft, and scheduled to serve in the fleet for 50 years.
A modern leviathan of such overwhelming power that I find myself thankful I live in the only country in the world capable of producing such things. And much to the rest of the world’s great fortune, the only country capable of creating it is also the country most likely to use it responsibly. (No need to thank us world, excellence is its own reward).
The full armada of Presidentially named carriers is now close to being completed, and with it, the real world manifestation of President’s Reagan's ‘peace through strength’ vision:
USS George Washington
USS Abraham Lincoln
USS Theodore Roosevelt
USS Harry S. Truman
USS Dwight Eisenhower
USS John F. Kennedy
USS Ronald Reagan
USS George H.W. Bush (scheduled to be commissioned in 2009)
The George H.W. Bush is the last of the Nimitz class carriers schedule to be developed, meaning the few gaps we see in the modern Presidential line of succession aren’t likely to be filled in by new ships. This might be for the best. The USS Richard Nixon? Although he was a Navy veteran, I don’t see it as an aircraft carrier. Some sort of spy ship maybe, one nobody knows about preferably. The USS Gerald Ford? A man best known for sliding down the stairs of Air Force 1 on his face probably isn’t the best role model for a fighting ship. Plus the Navy probably couldn’t afford the insurance premiums.
The USS Jimmy Carter?
(I’ll pause now to allow you to wipe the laughter-ejected coffee spew off of your monitor).
But before you laugh too hard, I need to inform you ..... it is in the works. The USS Jimmy Carter is scheduled to be commissioned in 2004. Not as an aircraft carrier. Rather, as a nuclear powered attack submarine. Clinton-era political appointees in the Defense Department saw fit to use the name of the ‘peace through weakness’ visionary in 1998 for the final submarine of the Seawolf class.
It was a move that inspired some controversy among military professionals. From Norman Polmar of the United States Naval Institute (a private, professional organization for Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine veterans):
”Naming the SSN-23 for President Carter further proclaims the bankruptcy of the Navy in assigning names and designations to submarines. According to a leading Pentagon reporter, it also reveals "that Clinton-appointee Dalton is - at best - politically tone deaf.
...as president [Carter] disappointed many senior officers in the armed services, especially the Navy. His personnel policies helped fuel a mass exodus of senior enlisted personnel that at times was so critical that ship deployments were delayed. In 1979, President Carter vetoed the entire fiscal year 1980 defense budget because it contained an aircraft carrier.
For many who served [in the Navy] then, Mr. Carter is at fault for having presided over the hollowing-out of the U.S. military," wrote a Pentagon reporter.”
A stinging rebuke of the Carter years and the appropriateness of naming warships after those from this administration.
Lest you feel the USNI has politically biased motivations in delivering these criticisms, I offer as supporting evidence the The Simpsons episode “Bart vs. Australia.” At the end of the episode, The Simpson family was being evacuated from the roof of the US embassy (from the clutches of an Australian mob, driven to rage by Bart’s antics). Homer turned to the pilot of the rescuing helicopter and wondered how they would be getting back home.
Homer: Hey, do we get to land on an aircraft carrier?
Pilot: No, Sir, the closest vessel is the USS Walter Mondale. It's a laundry ship. They'll take you the rest of the way.
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