Construction is set to begin next year on the U.S. Navy's newest aircraft carrier (CVN-78).The new vessel should be named to honor the ship that was sacrificed to improve the safety of the next generation of aircraft carriers, the Kitty Hawk-class carrier USS America, and to honor the veterans of today's wars.
Many do not realize this, but the Navy used the retired carrier for target practice last year, and then scuttled the ship in 6,000 feet of water, much to the resignation of veterans who served aboard her.
The ex-America is the largest warship to have been sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic ever.
Explosions above and below the waterline were carried out on the carrier, via explosives planted inside the ship, as well as from gunfire, missile and torpedo attacks from U.S. Navy warships, to determine how much punishment a supercarrier could take and what the effect of anti-ship missiles would have on such a huge ship. Detailed sensors relayed data to nearby Navy vessels for analysis.
After three weeks of tests, the sea chocks were opened and the USS America (CV-66) was sent to the bottom. The picture to the left was taken moments after the carrier sank on May 14, 2005.
The next Nimitz-class carrier that will come out of the shipbuilding yard at Newport News, VA, is to be the massive USS George HW Bush (CVN-77), named for the last war veteran President.
After that, CVN-78 is to be laid down.
It appears that CVN-78 will be a new class of carrier that will have incorporated the lessons learned from the USS America's final mission. Even in death, the ship served the Navy that had built her, so it seems appropriate that the next carrier be named to honor both yesterday's and today's veterans, as well as honoring the decommissioned USS America.
Hopefully the Navy does the USS America veterans justice and honors their sacrifice with the naming of an entire class of carriers after their famed ship.
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