# USS Gerald R. Ford launches Saturday **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 12, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759 "2013-11-12T23:40:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/1 "2013-11-12T23:40:06Z")
The next and most advanced class of aircraft carrier with 3 times the nuclear power of a Nimitz class. Lots of pics and factoids at [link](http://www.businessinsider.com/navys-most-advanced-carrier-launches-2013-11). I thought this line was particularly funny: > [@](#): > > Along with its groundbreaking architecture and network systems, the carrier is the [first ever to use electromagnetic force](http://www.businessinsider.com/electric-slingshot-meets-aircraft-carriers-2013-2) — the same as in modern roller coasters — to launch jets into flight. It’s nice to see the Navy keeping up with amusement park technology. LOL. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/2 "2013-11-12T23:44:41Z")
edit: [link to full article with pics](http://www.businessinsider.com/navys-most-advanced-carrier-launches-2013-11?op=1) - or click on link at bottom of original link. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2013, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/3 "2013-11-12T23:46:48Z")
They should have Chevy Chase try and christain it, but miss the hull and tumble into an amusing prat fall. ---
**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:** [November 13, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/4 "2013-11-13T00:03:17Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > They should have Chevy Chase try and christain it, but miss the hull and tumble into an amusing prat fall. On this theme, I had a mental image of the great ship sliding down the ramp, into the sea, breaking in half, & then sinking, all inside of five minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/5 "2013-11-13T05:57:15Z")
Looks like it was launched last Saturday. Daughter Susan Ford Bales christened the ship. It is one of the few Navy ships to be named after a living person: Donald Rumsfeld told Ford about the new ship’s name in 2006, a few months before Ford died. That is one mighty ship. [http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/08/navy-set-to-launch-newest-most-efficient-carrier/](http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/08/navy-set-to-launch-newest-most-efficient-carrier/) ---
**Author:** ![Vaevictis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f04885/32.png) [@Vaevictis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vaevictis)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/6 "2013-11-13T06:39:01Z")
A Nimitz class carrier named after Ford?!?!? What is it going to do, sail around the world pardoning America’s enemies? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/7 "2013-11-13T07:31:08Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > The next and most advanced class of aircraft carrier with 3 times the nuclear power of a Nimitz class. I was told there would _be_ no math. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/8 "2013-11-13T07:32:41Z")
> [@echo7tango](#): > > Looks like it was launched last Saturday. Thanks. I’ve been catching up on my mail so I probably forgot to check the date. :o > [@Vaevictis](#): > > A Nimitz class carrier named after Ford?!?!? What is it going to do, sail around the world pardoning America’s enemies? Don’t they normally name the class after the first ship of the class? So won’t these all be Ford class carriers? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/9 "2013-11-13T08:10:48Z")
> [@deltasigma](#): > > Don’t they normally name the class after the first ship of the class? So won’t these all be Ford class carriers? It’s its own new class, the Ford class of carriers. Apparently they look somewhat like Nimitz carriers. > **[List of aircraft carrier classes of the United States Navy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_carrier_classes_of_the_United_States_Navy#After_the_Cold_War)** > > On November 14, 1910, pilot Eugene Burton Ely took off in a Curtiss plane from the bow of Birmingham and later landed a Curtiss Model D on Pennsylvania on January 18, 1911. In fiscal year (FY) 1920, Congress approved a conversion of collier Jupiter into a ship designed for launching and recovering of airplanes at sea—the first aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. More aircraft carriers were approved and built, including Ranger, the first class of aircraft carriers in the United States N... ---
**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:** [November 13, 2013, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/10 "2013-11-13T10:12:23Z")
> [@Vaevictis](#): > > A Nimitz class carrier named after Ford?!?!? What is it going to do, sail around the world pardoning America’s enemies? We do forgive them…afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/11 "2013-11-13T10:16:21Z")
Ford ford fjord? ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/12 "2013-11-13T12:58:44Z")
The USS Gerald R. Ford was sunk senselessly today by a pack of Seawolf-class submarines commanded by rogue officers. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/13 "2013-11-13T13:07:27Z")
Sinks Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/14 "2013-11-13T14:50:57Z")
Well I know one thing, _I_ never voted for this air craft carrier, and for that matter, neither did anyone else! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/15 "2013-11-13T14:57:30Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > Well I know one thing, _I_ never voted for this air craft carrier, and for that matter, neither did anyone else! Actually, quite a few people voted for Ford for president. Just not enough to elect him. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/16 "2013-11-13T15:17:21Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Actually, quite a few people voted for Ford for president. Just not enough to elect him. Naming a ship for a President who was not elected seems rather like naming an airport after Will Rogers. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/17 "2013-11-13T15:39:54Z")
> [@echo7tango](#): > > Looks like it was launched last Saturday. Daughter Susan Ford Bales christened the ship. It is one of the few Navy ships to be named after a living person: Donald Rumsfeld told Ford about the new ship’s name in 2006, a few months before Ford died. > > That is one mighty ship. > > [http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/08/navy-set-to-launch-newest-most-efficient-carrier/](http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/08/navy-set-to-launch-newest-most-efficient-carrier/) Actually, we seem to have started a tradition of naming ships after living former-Presidents. The USS Ronald Reagan was commissioned 3 years before Reagan died, and the USS George HW Bush and USS Jimmy Carter are currently in service. Whether or not Clinton gets a ship soon depends on appropriation bills I’d guess. > [@thirdname](#): > > The USS Gerald R. Ford was sunk senselessly today by a pack of Seawolf-class submarines commanded by rogue officers. The third Seawolf is the aforementioned USS Jimmy Carter, so it sinking the Ford would be appropriate (and well within its capabilities). ---
**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:** [November 13, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/18 "2013-11-13T16:17:33Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > They should have Chevy Chase try and christain it, but miss the hull and tumble into an amusing prat fall. No, I see it sliding down the ramp and then ramming into the pier ahead of it. Then getting towed off it by Secret Service tugboats. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/19 "2013-11-13T16:19:51Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Naming a ship for a President who was not elected seems rather like naming an airport after Will Rogers. 🙂 Or a[nuclear submarine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Will_Rogers_(SSBN-659)). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759/20 "2013-11-13T16:34:53Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Or a[nuclear submarine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Will_Rogers_(SSBN-659)). He was killed in a plane crash, he didn’t drown. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/uss-gerald-r-ford-launches-saturday/673759.md?page=2)