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The United States Navy, steeped in tradition
and history, honors its remarkable service in the Civil War through the names
of many of its ships today.
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The USS Abraham
Lincoln
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First and foremost is the USS Abraham
Lincoln, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier commissioned in 1989. One of the
largest warships in the world, the "Abe" is named after the
sixteenth President, during whose administration the Navy grew to
unprecedented size and played a vital role in the Union war effort. Returning
to her homeport of San Diego after a lengthy deployment to the Middle East,
the super-carrier was the scene of President Bush's controversial
"Mission Accomplished" photo-op on May 1, 2003.
Most Ticonderoga-class guided missile
cruisers are named after great battles of American history. Quite a few bear
proud names from the Civil War, including the USS Mobile Bay, the Antietam
(which historian Shelby Foote once toured, remarking afterwards, "Anyone
who takes on the U.S. Navy has got to be crazy"), as well as the
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and
Port Royal. The
Ticonderoga-class ships have the sophisticated AEGIS sensor system, and are
often components of carrier battle groups, providing surface-to-air defenses
against enemy attack. Many of these ships display blue and gray in their
insignia, commemorating the Civil War history behind their names.
The Spruance-class destroyer USS
Cushing
honors William Barker Cushing, one of the great naval heroes of the Civil War,
celebrated for leading the daring mission which sank the Confederate ironclad
CSS Albemarle on October 28, 1864. The Cushing, commissioned in 1979, has been
in the news in recent years for her patrol duties in the Persian Gulf,
enforcing UN Security Council sanctions against Iraq before Gulf War II. The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS David Glasgow Farragut, named
after the first admiral of the U.S. Navy and the hero of Mobile Bay, is now
being built and is expected to be commissioned in 2006. She will be the fifth
Navy ship to bear the name.
Nuclear attack submarines (SSNs) of the Los
Angeles class are usually named after prominent American cities. Several bear
the names of cities with Civil War significance, although not necessarily for
that reason. Among them are the USS Memphis, Norfolk, Louisville,
Alexandria,
Asheville, Annapolis, Hampton, and Columbia. The USS
Hartford, commissioned in
1994, honors both the Connecticut state capital and Admiral Farragut's
flagship.
Strategic missile submarines (SSBNs) of the
Ohio class carry Trident or Trident II ballistic missiles and are usually
named, as traditionally were battleships, after American states. Perhaps most
notable among these for its Civil War significance (after Ohio, of course!) is
the USS Alabama, commissioned in 1985. The CSS Alabama was one of the
Confederacy's most celebrated (or hated, depending on your allegiance)
commerce raiders. She preyed on Union shipping for almost two years under the
command of the flamboyant Capt. Raphael Semmes, before being sunk by the steam
sloop-of-war USS Kearsarge in a dramatic naval duel off the coast of
Cherbourg, France, on June 19, 1864. (Semmes himself was honored with a
destroyer during World War II, as was his opponent, Capt. John A. Winslow of
the Kearsarge). Movie buffs will remember the submarine USS Alabama from the
1995 Gene Hackman-Denzel Washington thriller, "Crimson Tide."
The legacy of the USS Kearsarge lives on as a
Wasp-class amphibious warfare carrier; she is the fifth Navy warship to bear
the name. Then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell spoke
at her 1992 launching in Pascagoula, Miss., deep in the heart of Dixie. Gen.
Powell honored her namesake's Civil War service while tactfully omitting any
mention that she'd sunk one of the Confederacy's most famous ships. The modern
Kearsarge is perhaps best known for her role in rescuing U.S. Air Force
fighter pilot Scott O'Grady, downed over Bosnia in June 1995. Her AV-8B
Harrier II fighter jets are flown by Marine aviators, echoing the role played
by Marine gunners aboard the original Kearsarge.
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The USS Monitor
battles the CSS Virginia
off Hampton Roads, VA, March 9, 1862
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The USS Virginia, first of a new class of
attack submarines, is to be commissioned this June (2004). Other planned ships in the
class are the Texas, Hawaii and North Carolina (two of which, at least, have a
Civil War story behind them). It's a little odd that these subs will be named
after states when the Ohio-class Trident submarines already hold that
distinction, but the Navy in recent years has unfortunately departed from its
longstanding custom of naming all ships in a class after the same subject
(i.e. states, battles, cities, noted admirals, etc.) Since there is to be a
USS Virginia, commemorating the most famous Confederate ironclad, I thought it
only appropriate that one of the ships in the class (30 are planned) be named
the USS Monitor. I've written some letters, but must admit that I haven't made
much headway in persuading either Congress or the Navy to honor the "cheesebox
on a raft" which so famously fought the CSS Virginia to a draw at Hampton
Roads, Va. on March 9, 1862. (Honor the
Monitor web site.) The last USS Monitor was a transport ship which
served in the Pacific during and just after World War II.
The Whidbey Island-class cargo dock landing
ship USS Harpers Ferry, commissioned in 1995, honors the Virginia town (now in
West Virginia) where John Brown's abortive October 1859 anti-slavery raid set
the stage for the Civil War. The names of two amphibious transport dock ships
recall important Civil War sites. The Austin-class USS Nashville honors both
the Tennessee state capital and the December 15-16, 1864 battle which
shattered Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood's Army of Tennessee. The San
Antonio-class USS New Orleans's name serves three purposes: recalling the
great Crescent City of Louisiana, Andrew Jackson's great 1815 victory over the
British, and Admiral Farragut's 1862 capture of the Confederacy's largest
city.
President Lincoln fully recognized the Navy's
vital role in securing a Union victory during the Civil War. He sent a letter
to political supporters in Illinois in August 1863, noting the recent
victorious efforts of the Federal armies at Gettysburg and Vicksburg. But he
went on to write, "Nor must Uncle Sam's web-feet be forgotten. At all the
watery margins [the Navy's men and ships] have been present. Not only on the
deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow muddy
bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been, and made
their tracks. Thanks to all."
As a nation, we remain grateful still.
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