Wait, is Murtha even alive? I thought that he had died recently.
I Blame Your Mother.
I wondered when someone would mention this. He was a highly decorated career Marine officer, then a politician of note. He was a hero. If a ship that’s going to carry, uh, Marines, can’t be named after a dead, heroic career Marine with an important second career in politics, then…I don’t know what criteria you go by.
I don’t get the outrage.
Perhaps you’re not aware that he was a Democrat. For someone like Moto that’s all the reason in the world.
It angers him so much he’s willing to ditch the Gerald Ford and the George HW Bush.
But he decided to not offer up the St. Ronnie. It’s like trading baseball cards, dontcha know?
-Joe
Me, too. It reeks of Banana Republic or old-style Soviet Block.
I’m aware of that. It shouldn’t matter a whit.
I agree you should take a page out of the Royal Navy’s book. Even if your ships are a little bit bigger than ours, badass names are what counts. Like the HMS Vengeance. You know there’s no messing about when your enemy sends something named after the concept of vengeance after you. Much better than a politician.
And the informal winner of the most badass ship name in the thread about them was HMS Warspite.
Or a decorated warrior with the misfortune to have a goofy, non-fear-inspiring name?
I see your goofy non-fear-inspiring name and raise you the HMS Devastation…and HMS Sovereign (the vanguard of enemy destruction). Although to be fair we do name ships after the Royal family every now and again. You’d think owning the ship would be enough…
Are you saying we’re only now crossing the line?
Because the USNS Bob Hope was launched back in 1997.
There will never be a better name than Dreadnought.
“She’s going down!”
The HMS Nazi?
I’ll agree that:
- U.S. military ships or boats, as with U.S. stamps, should not be named after living people.
- Murtha is, in fact, dead.
- One would think that Mr. Moto would be delighted. Murtha was a Marine D. I.; a Vietnam veteran; and a Congressman who, throughout his 36 years in the House not only shoveled money at the military, but also was pro-NRA and anti-abortion and pro-draft.
And it really doesn’t make sense since Mr. Moto would not have been one of those people who only ever heard of Murtha after he had his set-to with Mean Jean Schmidt in the House over Iraq. Someone from Pittsburgh should certainly have pretty good knowledge of Murtha from way back.
This to me is all that needs to be said. I LIKED Murtha as a politician (as much as I like any of 'em), and this is still wrong. LPDs are named after US Cities, dammit. At least San Antonio-class LPDs are.
I was just as annoyed when they started naming Nimitz-class CVNs after politicians instead of admirals/generals.
ETA: I’d’ve been perfectly happy, considering his veteran status, at a Perry-class frigate, Zumwalt-class destroyer, or Burke-class destroyer being named after him, come to think of it.
Seven out of ten are named for presidents, and only the first one (of ten, so far) was named after an admiral. (Why, in heaven’s name, would the Navy name a ship after a general? Are there even any named after Marine generals?) That’s fine by me, except that two of the former presidents were still living at the time the ship was named.
I’ll note, in fairness, that I have the same objection to the submarine named after Jimmy Carter.
Seriously, I wish they’d stop that. It’s just gross. It’s the least euphonious way to name a thing you can imagine. Do other countries do that? My dad served in Korea on the USS John W. Thomasson, which is a dumbass name for a boat.
Don’t tell him I said “boat”.
ETA - I don’t think anybody’s arguing with the fact that the Brits have the best ship names. No other country is even in the running.
Nice. Or horrid, depending.