Navy veterans: my plan for a new naming program for our aircraft carriers. [View all]

Full disclosure: I'm ex-Army, but I'm still fascinated by naval vessels.

I have to tell you, I'm pretty sick and tired of having our carriers named for famous figures in American history. And I think it's a really bad idea to name them after Presidents. After all, Cadet Bonespurs could, theoretically, get one named after him someday.

Carriers used to be named after battles, like Lexington, Saratoga, or Iwo Jima. Or after famous American ships from the Age of Sail, like Hornet, Wasp, or Enterprise.

I'd like to start a new program whereby carriers take their names only from either the original six frigates (other than Constitution, of course) or else the names of the states, like they used to do with battleships, (with the exception of Arizona and Utah. )

That would leave us with fifty-three names for new carriers. With state names, we could bestow them in the order the states entered the Union, i.e. U.S.S. Delaware, etc.

What do you think of that idea?