In his last week in office, President Joe Biden on Monday named the Navy’s next unnamed future Ford-class aircraft carriers President William J. Clinton. The super carrier that will follow it will be named after George W. Bush. However, it will be years, even under the current plans, before either ship is delivered to the Navy.
If all goes according to the Biden administration’s wishes, the USS William J. Clinton (CVN-82) and USS George W. Bush (CVN-83) will join the USS Gerald R. Ford and future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), the USS Enterprise (CVN-80), and USS Doris Miller (CVN-81) as part of the Navy’s newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier class. There are 11 aircraft carriers in the current fleet, 10 of them are earlier Nimitz class ships.
“The future USS William J. Clinton honors President William J. Clinton, 42nd President of the United States of America, serving two terms from 1993 to 2001,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said in a statement. “The future USS George W. Bush honors President George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States of America, serving two terms from 2001 to 2009. This will be the first Navy vessel named for either president. The names follow the Navy tradition of often naming aircraft carriers after U.S. presidents.”
Bush served in the Texas Air National Guard from 1968 to 1973 and flew F-102 Delta Dagger fighters, while Clinton was never in the military.
“I am honored that my name will be associated with the United States Navy and a symbol of our Nation’s might,” Bush was quoted as stating in the Del Toro release. “I have a special admiration for the men and women of our Navy – including my dad – and ask God to watch over this ship and those who sail aboard her.”
This is the second aircraft carrier to bear the Bush family name. The last Nimitz-class carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), is named for his father. This means that two carriers with the namesake Bush will be in the fleet operating at the same time.
It’s one thing to name a ship, but quite another to procure it, begin construction, finish, and deliver it. The Ford-class program is already facing serious delays, according to a July 2024 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.
The Navy’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget submission “proposes deferring the procurement” of the Clinton, the fifth ship in the Ford class, by two years,” from Fiscal Year 2028 to Fiscal Year 2030, “with advance procurement (AP) for the ship beginning in” Fiscal Year 2027, CRS noted. The future Bush is not even on the books yet for procurement.
As an example of how long it takes to get a new aircraft carrier to the fleet, the Ford, the lead ship in the class was procured in Fiscal Year 2008, commissioned in July 2017, and didn’t make its first deployment in October 2022, more than a decade after the Navy procured it. It had massive teething issues, some of which were due to it being the first in its class.
The USS John F. Kennedy, meanwhile, was procured in Fiscal Year 2013 and scheduled for delivery this July, according to Navy documents.
The third ship in the class, the USS Enterprise, was procured in Fiscal Year 2018, however, its scheduled delivery has been delayed until September 2029, or 18 months later than the March 2028 date shown in the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget, CRS explained.
The Doris Miller, procured in Fiscal Year 2019, is not scheduled for delivery to the Navy until February 2032.
Naming ships after the living is not unheard of, but it deprives new administrations, Navy secretaries, and Congresses of the chance to honor people or ideas of their choosing. It’s possible that plans could change.
It’s happened before. In 2020, then Navy Secretary William Modly wanted a new class of frigates named Agility, according to USNI News. It was eventually changed to Constellation class. But considering the now relatively established practice of naming carriers after U.S. presidents, the next in line are the ones announced today, so changing those names may be harder than swapping out the class name of frigate.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com