US Aircraft Carrier CVN-77 should have been another Lexington

As the long-awaited Queen Elizabeth Class of Royal Navy aircraft carriers slowly take shape, with their names steeped in tradition (both names were given to WWII battleships), I have found that the last of the Nimitz Class super-carriers of the US Navy, The USS George HW Bush (CVN-77) was originally touted to have been named USS Lexington, according to US Senate papers.

CVN-77 at Sea

According to Senate concurrent resolution 84 (106th congress, 2nd session), submitted by Democratic Senators John Warner KBE (VA) and Daniel Inouye (HI), veterans of the Korean war and WWII,

respectively, on Feb 24th 2000, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN-77, then building, should be named "Lexington" since:

• "the name bestowed upon aircraft carrier CVN-77 should embody the American spirit and provide a lasting symbol of the American commitment to freedom"
• "for the citizens of the United States, the name``Lexington'' has been synonymous with defense of freedom from the very first battle of the War of the American Revolution and is taught to American schoolchildren as the place of the ``shot heard round the world'', at which our forebears mustered the courage to gain inde-pendence" 
• "the name ``Lexington'' has been associated with naval aviation from its origins in the 1920s, when President Harding bestowed the name ``Lexington'' on the second aircraft carrier in United States history ... that vessel, the U.S.S. Lexington (CV-2), also known as the ``Fighting Lady'', saw active service from 1927 until lost in 1942 during the historic Battle of the Coral Sea"
• "immediately after that loss, President Franklin D.Roosevelt saw fit to bestow the name ``Lexington'' on a successor aircraft carrier in order to carry on the fighting spirit to preserve freedom"
• Whereas that successor aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Lexington (CV-16), joined the fleet in 1943 and earned 11 battle stars during the Pacific campaigns of World War II as she helped carry the fight to the enemy"
• "U.S.S. Lexington (CV-16) continued her service to the United States after World War II, conducting nu-merous deployments during the Cold War and completing her 48 years of service as a training aircraft carrier for student aviators"
• "upon the completion of her service and in keeping with the traditions of the Navy, the U.S.S. Lexington (CV-16) was stricken from the Navy Vessel Register on November 30, 1991"

The senators continued:
"the aircraft carrier CVN-77 should be named the U.S.S. Lexington:
(1) in order to honor the men and women who served in the Armed Forces of the United States during World War II, and the incalculable number of United States citizens on the home front during that war, who mobilized in the name of freedom, and who are today respectfully referred to as the ``Greatest Generation' and
(2) as a special tribute to the 16,000,000 veterans of the Armed Forces who served on land, sea, and air during World War II, of whom less than 6,000,000 remain alive today, and serve as a lasting symbol of commitment to freedom as they pass on and proudly take their place in history."

In the event, the Navy saw fit to continue the modern trend for naming ships in honour of still-living individuals, in this case WWII carrier aviator and later President George H.W. Bush, rather than after famous and pivotal moments in their history.

This is a shame in my opinion, since it would seem to turn away from tradition, so long the proud backbone of navies world-wide.  At least they're building another "Enterprise".

More on this discussion can be found here: http://www.american.com/archive/2012/march/whats-in-a-name/article_print