Navy to name warship after Hoosier statesman

Outside The Beltway
1

DDG-136, 137 or 138 will be the USS Richard G. Lugar.
DDG-135 has already officially been named the USS Thad Cochran.

All the hulls above will be Arleigh Burke-class Guided Missile Destroyers. Interestingly, Lugar served as an intelligence briefer for then Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Arleigh Burke. Cochran also had naval service.

Other political names include:

USS Tedd Stevens (DDG-128)
USS Sam Nunn (DDG-133)
USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118)
USS Carl M. Levin (DDG-120)

Three other much earlier ships included the John S. McCain, Winston S. Churchill and Roosevelt.

But considering the Arleigh Burke-class began with DDG-51 and we are up to DDG-138 as far as approved for construction goes, that is 9 political names out of 88 hulls. Most of the hulls are named for Medal of Honor or Navy Cross winners or notable Navy leaders.

2

What are the chances its nickname will be The Dick?

3

The WWII era aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) was nicknemed the “Bonnie Dick”

4

Disgusting they would put the names of Democrats on these ships.

5

Why? Naming ships is not about party affiliation, its about service to the country.

6

I am pretty sure you are just trolling, but Daniel Inouye was one of the most conspicuous Medal of Honor winners in United States history.

7

Even though he had to wait half a century to get that Medal of Honor as it was denied to him during World War II due to his Japanese ancestry.

8

Not to mention that it cost him an arm.

9

I know how much you like posting about new ships. And occasionally about retiring ships.

Ever been to a naval graveyard??

I’m gonna visit one of these days. Supposedly there’s some scuttled ships from The War of 1812 not too far from me also. Well, what’s left of them.

10

It has to do with the fact that my wife’s family is a Navy family. Her father is a retired Navy officer, her brothers served as enlisted and a number of other relatives have served. Quite a source of insight on the Navy.

I haven’t been to Mallows, I have been to a couple of other locations. I have been to the USS Arizona Memorial. I have also had the chance to tour the breaking facilities at Brownsville, Texas. It is quite illuminating.

11

Had a feeling you might mention Pearl Harbor.

The wrecks at Mallows are mostly submerged, but a few are up against the shoreline. If you find it on the satellite view on GoogleMaps you can see the shapes of several dozen clustered just below the water line.

It’s a pretty cool image.