USS GERALD R. FORD (CVN-78)

'USS ''Gerald R. Ford'' (CVN-78)' is to be the lead ship of her class of United States Navy supercarriers. The ship will be named after the 38th President of the United States, Gerald R. Ford, which the Navy announced on January 16, 2007.^[1]
''Ford'' is currently scheduled to be laid down in 2009, concurrently or nearly so with the commissioning of ''USS George H. W. Bush''. Construction work has already begun; on August 11, 2005, Northrop Grumman held a ceremonial steel cut for a 15-ton plate that will form part of a side shell unit of the carrier. If construction of the carrier remains on schedule the new ship should join the U.S. Navy’s active fleet as a fully commissioned warship in 2015. ''Ford'' is slated to replace the current ''Enterprise'', ending her 50 plus years of service with the United States Navy.^[2]

Contents

Ship Naming

Congressional Recommendation

Announcement

Previous Proposal

See also

References

External links

Ship Naming

Congressional Recommendation

Senator John Warner of Virginia originally proposed an amendment to a defense spending bill declaring that CVN-78 "shall be named the U.S.S. ''Gerald Ford'',"^[3] while President Ford was still alive. The final version signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006^[4] declared only that "[it] is the sense of Congress that ... CVN-78 should be named the U.S.S. ''Gerald R. Ford''."^[5] Since such "sense of" language is typically non-binding and does not carry the force of law,^[6] the Navy was not required to name the ship after President Ford.

Announcement

On January 3, 2007, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that the aircraft carrier would be named after President Ford during a eulogy for the President at Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. Rumsfeld indicated that he had told Ford of the honor a few months before his death. Later in the day, the Navy confirmed that the aircraft carrier would indeed be named for the former President. ^[7]

Previous Proposal

Prior to Ford's death and official confirmation of the name, the USS ''America'' Carrier Veterans Association (CVA) had advocated that the ship be named USS ''America'' instead.^[8] The CVA is an association of sailors who served aboard USS ''America'' (CV-66), which was decommissioned in 1996 and scuttled in 2005.

See also

★ A1B reactor

★ Ship class

References

1. Navy Names New Aircraft Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford - Official Announcement from Secretary of the Navy
2. Navy CVN-21 Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress Retrieved 8 December 2006
3. United States Library of Congress. , Senate Amendment 4211. Retrieved December 5, 2006.
4. Defense Link News Article. President Signs 2007 Defense Authorization Act. Retrieved December 1, 2006
5. United States Library of Congress. House Resolution 5122, Section 1012 (p. 292). Retrieved December 1, 2006.
6. C-SPAN's Capitol Questions. Sense of Congress. Retrieved December 5, 2006.
7. Next Navy aircraft carrier to be named for late President Gerald Ford, buried Wednesday Retrieved 3 January 2007
8. Dujardin, Peter, Skirmish erupts over naming of new carrier, ''Newport News Daily Press'', October 25, 2006. Retrieved December 5, 2006

External links

★ Northrop Grumman ceremonial steel cut

★ Naming of the CVN-78