The USS WHAT ??!!

[Dr Mordrid]

Mentioned in another thread the new stealth guided missile destroyers, the lead ship of which will be the DDG-1000 - the USS Elmo R. Zumwalt, named after the Admiral & former Chief of Naval Operations;



This brings up the naming of the DDG-1001. This should be interesting in that there is a big move to name it the -

USS Robert A. Heinlein -

after the late science fiction writer (Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Time Enough for Love...). For many years Heinlein, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the "Big 3" of sci-fi.

Before anyone goes into a snit Heinlein served in the US Navy in the 30's and did aeronautical engineering for them during WW-II.

[Elie]

Ceewwwwwlllll!!!!

[Dr Mordrid]

Heinlein Centennial site

Recommended support letter;

The Honorable Donald C. Winter
Secretary of the Navy
Room 4E686
Defense Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301

Dear Secretary Winter:

Robert A. Heinlein's 100th birthday will occur July 7th, 2007... the perfect time to announce that a DDG-1000/Zumwalt class destroyer will be named for him.

Robert A. Heinlein was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. At one time or another, his book Starship Troopers has been on the required reading list of all three service academies. In recognition of Heinlein’s influence on readers who would later become scientists and engineers, the NASA Medal for Distinguished Public Service was awarded to him posthumously in 1988.

Heinlein, Naval Academy class of 1929, always considered himself to be a Naval Officer, one who happened to have had to make his living as a writer after being invalided out of the Navy in the mid-1930s because of tuberculosis. His influence within the Navy can be illustrated in part by the establishment of the Robert A. Heinlein Chair in Aerospace Engineering at the Naval Academy, and by his being invited by the midshipmen of the Naval Academy to give the 1973 Forrestal Lecture to the Brigade.

Heinlein's first ship after graduating from the Academy was U.S.S. Lexington (CV-2), at that time the Navy's most technologically advanced vessel. But his last ship, on which he proudly served, was DD-147, U.S.S. Roper – a destroyer.

It only seems fitting that a man who spent his life writing about the 21st Century should have a 21st Century destroyer named after him.

In the decades to come, many ships will be named after this inspiring pioneer and writer. But the U.S. Navy has the chance to name the first one after one of the Navy's own. The U.S.S. Robert A. Heinlein. DDG-1001.

Sincerely,

(Your name here)

[Jessterw]

I can't imagine anyone could get in a snit over it, but then I know who Heinlein is outside of his success as a writer. My father (retired Navy, one-time submariner) had the immense pleasure of meeting the man once, so I grew up knowing about him.

So good deal to this, I hope it goes through.

[az]

I liked Stranger in a Strange Land (albeit in a poor german translation), and if he'd feel this as an honour to him, it's cool (explanation: I don't think Gandhi would feel honoured by having equipment used to kill people - however cool technologically - named after him, for instance).

The ship looks like a folded paper model

[Wombat]

Of course, the ship won't be allowed to have any women officers

[az]

Oh, but it should!