Why are Naval ships being named after politicians and not the traditional naval naming convention used for Navy ships?

You got that Senior. Mabus is an Obama toady. I wouldn't trust him with a cold stove, never mind a hot one. He doesn't have a gag reflex anymore!!

Very good piece of information - There isn't a Fort Lott or a Camp Nunn. However there is a federal building named after Nunn.

There is a USS David R Ray, Navy Corpsman, MOH winner. Posthumously, of course.

there were a couple of Presidents that were enlisted, Lincoln and McKinley that I know of offhand

and the USS Reuben James sunk by a german u-boat in '41, but not enough to declare war over, probably because Reuben James was an enlisted man

In response to Mr Craig I would have to say John Mc Cain served his Country honorably as for John Kerry not so much

SGT Philip Roncari - Both served equally. Both saw combat.

PO3 Donald Murphy I agree both did see combat as for the equality in service I've got a problem with John Kerry but that's my own view of the man others may find him honorable I do not

Kerry is a bad actor. Do a little research. Nobody has a problem with his service, until he came home and started the VietNam Vets Against the war. (VVAW). He was still in USNR and was leading protests. he actually went to the Paris peace talks in 1973 and did direct negotiations with the North Vietnamese. NEWSFLASH-as a USNR Officer, you are NOT authorized to negotiate on behalf of the US government. He was NOT authorized to do such a thing. He received a dismissal from the Naval Service (not an Honorable discharge.) WHY DO YOU THINK HE SEALED HIS NAVAL SERVICE RECORDS? I know McCain. A decent man-and while he and Kerry are both Senators (I 'd rather have a sister in a whorehouse!) the character of service of the two men is VERY different.

Master Chief, we've both been there. first ship I was on, I didn't know enough about the Navy to know that I had a good XO. Yeah, he was an PITA, but he PAID you-and was a decent guy. I actually stopped by and saw him and his mrs when he was going to NWC. The guy after him was CERTIFIABLE. (I'd actually been warned about him by a dive school classmate. Just a whacko. ) Unhappy crew. I got off there as fast as I could.

CDR William Kempner - Thats exactly my point. Command/Crew - all **PEOPLE** not steel. If the worst command ever assembled takes the helm of USS America, then it will suck to be onboard. If the best command ever assembled takes the helm of USS Osama Bin Ladin, then it will be the best duty ever.

PO3 Donald Murphy - With every respect, (and not a diss), I don't think you were following what I meant. Most of the time, the crew is pretty malleable. I DO NOT consider the crew and the command the same thing. (I think MCPO Collins feels the same) The Command is usually the CO and XO, and maybe the MCPOC/SCPOC, depending on how the other two operate. True, a ship is just a big hunk of steel without the crew, but the COMMAND has EVERYTHING to do with how morale is. Yeah, the name is just the name-true, but the tone of the ship, and its operations is set by the CO/XO. You were an E-4-you guys get told what to do-right wrong-in between. You don't get to see what happens to make things happen. (in some ways, you were lucky!!)

I think, based on my nearly 30 years in the Navy, that the command climate is the major influence on the crew, thereby its success. I may be the only Master Chief in the Navy to have been on board a ship when we ran aground, totally avoidable in each case, twice. The first time was when I was a First Class, and the crew I found myself with was a rabble, shocking me as I had been a submariner for my first 11 years in the service. The CO was a retiring kind of guy and got seasick when underway; the XO/Navigator was a lumbering oaf, the Command Senior Chief was a coward, and my LCPO was lazy, so I had to take on his job and I think it went well, because I made Chief after that three-year tour. I came back to that same ship, four years later, as the Command Senior Chief. I was also LCPO for the Operations and Deck departments. The first CO was an academy grad, determined to pass two upcoming inspections--ATG quals and INSURV--which were pretty heavy duty. Prior to those two inspections, I cannot remember a time when I went to the command before or after the sun set.

I had walked into this command with a dysfunctional Chief's Mess, which is always a bad sign. The Command Chief was a raging alcoholic, who had been a Chief longer than I had been, but I was senior to him by being a Senior Chief, and he had no bones about expressing his dismay at my arrival. All the other Chiefs were junior, most of them having been CPO's less than a year, and all appeared to me to be PO1's in khakis. They were more interested in their own departmental rice bowls than the good of the command in general. We did get through the inspections with ease, then the new CO came on board. Bear in mind this was a small ship, with LCDR commanding officer, a LT as XO, and every other junior officer imaginable filling in as CHENG and department heads and DIVO's. Most were on board to get their basic quals and have a platform to get into EOD; there were far too many of them for a ship that size.

The new CO was personable, his XO was prior enlisted, and he had a good time with the crew. He wanted to cut the size of the standard watch down and to make it less onerous for the crew. But their combined lackadaisical attitudes got the ship in danger again, and we ran aground with the very ship that I had been on watch when we ran aground only seven years before. These were both instances of command failure, and had nothing to do with the crews' failure. The CO and XO were relieved, and I went on to make Master Chief the following year. When I left that ship, the CPO Mess was the best on the waterfront in Sasebo.

In 1955, the destroyer escort USS Evans (DE-1023) was named in his honor however it was decommissioned in 1968.

SPC David S. - well aware David. But, in this day and age, we must remind folks to continue to remember men like these who boldly gave their lives to our great nation. Naming ships over and over again after individuals such as these reminds all of what we as a nation are still made of. I still remember why the USS CAPODONNO was named. It was down with the SARATOGA and others in my home port of Mayport, FLA

Without a doubt - we have plenty of good men (women) to remember.

Especially ones that are alive - that could easily circle back around.