Three honorable vessels have carried the name AMERICA since 1776. Their histories are available by accessing the links to the left.
Carrier Naming in Perspective
With the exception of the USS Enterprise CVN-65, prior to the launching of the USS Kennedy CV-67 in the late 1960’s, aircraft carriers were most often named after inspirational events in our nations history. For instance, Bennington, Saratoga, Midway, Coral Sea, Ranger, Lexington, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge, Phillipine Sea and many others. Occasionally, especially during World War two when American industrial might turned out aircraft carriers of all sizes, carriers were named after historical figures (Hancock, Bon Homme Richard, Wright, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin.)
Since the late 60’s, the names have taken on the names of political figures. In some cases these ships have been named for individuals still living (Stennis, Bush, Reagan). This is not an attempt to disparage these individuals or the merits of naming recent carriers in their honor. However, not only are we now naming these ships after living individuals, not even bothering to wait for historical perspective, but more recently the naming of these ships has taken on a very politicized nature with both sides of the aisles demanding every other ship to be named after one their own party heroes.
CVN77 was named after President G.H. Bush, a living one term President. We know know that Senator Warner (R-VA) and Senator Levin (D-MI) sponsored naming CVN78 after yet again another living politician, former President Gerald R. Ford. Senators Warner and Levin took the power to name ships away from the Secretary of Navy by sponsoring Senate Amendment 4211 which was passed by simple voice vote (with most members of the Senate absent) and attached it to the 2007 National Defense Act. 4211 mandated that the Secretary of the Navy name CVN78 the Gerald R. Ford. Another abuse of power by a Congress completely out of touch with the rest of the country
These ships need to inspire, inspire their crews, inspire the citizens of the nation that paid dearly not only financially to build them but to get to this point in time as a free nation through past sacrifices. More importantly, to inspire those in other parts of the world where the ship and her crew may visit.
A ship named America can once again make a statement like no other name can!
For a complete listing and histories of United States Navy aircraft carriers, visit www.navy.mil