# If an Nimitz class aircraft carrier was found in a cornfield in Kansas... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794 "2012-01-08T03:51:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Antonius\_Block](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/51bf81/32.png) [@Antonius\_Block](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antonius_Block)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/81 "2012-01-10T20:02:19Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > I’m sure we will, it’ll be the one that goes to China. Nimitz-class aircraft carrier? Landlocked, in China? [It’s already there](http://www.bobhenneman.info/china.htm). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/82 "2012-01-10T23:01:11Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > The first three in your list were built 😉 They aren’t in the current fleet of aircraft carriers though. The lasy USS Ulysses S. Grant was scrapped years ago. I think it’s crazy to name a flagship after Gerald “The Accident” Ford while the greatest military leader in the history of America, who not incidentally was also President, doesn’t even have a ship. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/83 "2012-01-10T23:10:32Z")
Personally, I think it’s a bad idea to name _anything_ after anyone still alive, and probably for another decade or so after their death. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/84 "2012-01-11T02:15:26Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > They aren’t in the current fleet of aircraft carriers though. The lasy USS Ulysses S. Grant was scrapped years ago. I think it’s crazy to name a flagship after Gerald “The Accident” Ford while the greatest military leader in the history of America, who not incidentally was also President, doesn’t even have a ship. Ford was one of the, if not the greatest athletes in Presidential history. The phenomenal success of early Saturday Night Live, with their running gag of a fall, ingrained the “habitually stumbling.” On Obama’s first day, he walked into a window in the White House thinking it was a door. That could be a fine, stupid running gag. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/85 "2012-01-11T02:20:06Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Ford was one of the, if not the greatest athletes in Presidential history. The phenomenal success of early Saturday Night Live, with their running gag of a fall, ingrained the “habitually stumbling.” I’m aware of Ford’s athletic prowess. By “the accident” I meant his Presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/86 "2012-01-11T02:29:35Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > …The phenomenal success of early Saturday Night Live, with their running gag of a fall, ingrained the “habitually stumbling.”… That, and the news clips of the actual president stumbling and being caught be secret service agents. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/87 "2012-01-11T03:51:33Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > > > Some Kansan corn farmers are wondering what the hell is up with all this crap littering their fields. Hasn’t been this busy since some schizophrenic decided to build a baseball field. > > Minor pedantic nitpick: That was in Iowa. It may not seem like it, but they are different states. 🙂 No, the one in Kansas was built by a plain run-of-the-mill psycho. The one in Iowa was real. I think I have something in my eye. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/88 "2012-01-11T05:42:53Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > They aren’t in the current fleet of aircraft carriers though. The [last] USS Ulysses S. Grant was scrapped years ago. I think it’s crazy to name a flagship after Gerald “The Accident” Ford while the greatest military leader in the history of America, who not incidentally was also President, doesn’t even have a ship. Of course he does: [USS George Washington (CVN-73) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_George_Washington_(CVN-73)) I don’t think Ford deserves having a supercarrier named him, either, but he did serve honorably in the Navy in WWII: [Gerald Ford - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Ford#Naval_service_in_World_War_II) There was indeed a carrier named after FDR: [USS Franklin D. Roosevelt - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Franklin_D._Roosevelt_(CV-42)). And the current USS _Roosevelt_ is named after both Franklin and Eleanor: [USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Roosevelt_(DDG-80)) There have been several ships named after Grant, the biggest of which (and the one to which you referred) was a Poseidon missile nuclear sub: [USS Grant - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Grant) There has never been a commissioned U.S. Navy vessel named after Coolidge that I’ve been able to find, although there was a passenger liner converted into a WWII troopship: [SS President Coolidge - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_President_Coolidge) ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/89 "2012-01-11T10:40:47Z")
The “Silent Cal” Coolidge would be appropriate for a submarine, the silent service. A hybrid presidential-named carrier: The Calvin Roosevelt with the motto “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/90 "2012-01-11T13:03:10Z")
Have you ever talked to someone from Kansas before? Strategically, that carrier needs to stay right where it is. This is nothing but a godsend. Plus, all that corn, go ahead and start converting it to 90% nuclear, 10% ethanol. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/91 "2012-01-11T14:12:17Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Have you ever talked to someone from Kansas before? Strategically, that carrier needs to stay right where it is. This is nothing but a godsend. Plus, all that corn, go ahead and start converting it to 90% nuclear, 10% ethanol. It’s a godsend because . . . there’s not much else protecting Kansas from foreign invasion? If Kansas gets a carrier next thing we know Nebraska and the Dakotas will each want their own. Oklahoma will have to be happy with a WWII sub for a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/92 "2012-01-11T16:35:55Z")
> [@Antonius\_Block](#): > > Nimitz-class aircraft carrier? Landlocked, in China? > [It’s already there](http://www.bobhenneman.info/china.htm). That is so bizarre I don’t even know how to react to it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/93 "2012-01-11T17:10:26Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > If Kansas gets a carrier next thing we know Nebraska and the Dakotas will each want their own. Especially since they took away our missiles. ---
**Author:** ![MemoryDump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@MemoryDump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MemoryDump)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/94 "2012-01-11T18:41:19Z")
I can’t believe that after four days and 93 posts, no one has come up with the obvious solution: put it on a treadmill and fly it out. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/95 "2012-01-11T19:22:31Z")
> [@MemoryDump](#): > > I can’t believe that after four days and 93 posts, no one has come up with the obvious solution: put it on a treadmill and fly it out. Problem solved. It’s been tried in post #49. Didn’t work though 😃 . ---
**Author:** ![golear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@golear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/golear)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/96 "2012-01-11T21:22:19Z")
Easy solution to reduce the number of Hindenburgs: wrap carrier in plastic wrap and fill it with hydrogen… :smack: ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/97 "2012-01-11T21:30:24Z")
What is the airspeed of a Nimitz-laden swallow? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/98 "2012-01-11T22:00:24Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > I think I have something in my eye. It’s Corn, if you are Symbolically Republican. ---
**Author:** ![ruh-roh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ruh-roh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruh-roh)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/99 "2012-01-11T22:00:40Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Can anyone without a math deficiency use Squink’s numbers to figure out the volume of hydrogen needed to lift 101,223 tons? oohhhh, the humanity ! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/100 "2012-01-11T23:38:30Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > Is it wrong to assume that a cornfield will generally be made flat? 🙂 It’s Kansas. It’s all flat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794.md?page=6)