Captain Kirk To Command New Navy Destroyer
 

The commander of the U.S. Navy's sleek new guided-missile destroyer, which launched late last week in Maine, has a name to match its space-age look: Captain Kirk.

Captain James Kirk, the prospective commanding officer of USS Zumwalt, will lead the 610-foot vessel, the Navy's largest destroyer and first of three new Zumwalt-class ships "designed for littoral operations and land attack," the Navy said.

Kirk, a native of Bethesda, Md., was commissioned at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1990 and has served in a variety posts as a "surface warfare officer," according to his online bio. "Ashore, Captain Kirk has served as Executive Assistant to the Navy’s Chief of Legislative Affairs and as an Action Officer on the Joint Staff."

Kirk obtained a master's degrees in national security studies at the U.S. Naval War College and U.S. Army War College, where he undoubtedly heard more than his share of "Star Trek" jokes.

The ship, which was moved from dry dock in Bath, Maine, to a pier on the Kennebec River on Friday, is loaded with new technologies, including "radar reflecting angles, a striking inward-sloping tumblehome hull" and advanced gun system.

The lead ship and class are named in honor of former Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr., who served as chief of naval operations from 1970 to 1974.

According to the Navy, construction on the first Zumwalt is "more than 87 percent complete," with remaining work on the hull scheduled to be completed before delivery in late 2014.

So who will serve as Capt. Kirk's "Spock" on the Zumwalt? According to the Navy, it's Cmdr. Jeffrey W. Hickox, who was named prospective executive officer of the ship.

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looks ghey- is that a penis on the front of it-lol

Anxiously awaiting first Captains log.

I would assume it's sonar but I don't know and the Navy probably won't tell you.

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It's a bulbous bow.

don't ask and don't tell-lol :thumb:

yay.......more money going to the military that should go to the schools.

murican't

Cool and interesting. I was thinking it was the sonar dome but that makes sense.

Obviously we need to put enough money into the schools to teach everyone why we need a military.

Naval Academy?

everyone's a chameleon

I bet his middle name isn't "Tiberius". :harumph:

obviously

Bulbous bouffant? :)

He's British. Be glad he didn't call it a "bonnet".

That's a badass looking ship. Bigger than it looks, too. 600' long.

Admiral Zumwalt was very popular and let us grow mustaches and our hair longer. He relaxed a lot of rules so we didn't stand out so much to the civilians that hated us at the time. Glad to see this class of ships named after him.

he's dead, jim.
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I remember when I was in, all the old farts spoke fondly of him. :)

:LOL: I bet they were old by the time you got in.

:D He became well known in a hurry with all of the freedoms he gave us. Most sailors couldn't name another Admiral, but EVERYONE knew who Zumwalt was. He allowed us to wear dungarees off base, a severe no-no before he changed it.

I was in in the mid-late 80s. Especially when I first got in, most of the chiefs and older officers had been in during the height of Vietnam.

You just know Kirk is a steely eyed, womanizing badass.

I could have retired with 20 by then boot! :D Well almost(68-73) He was literally the best thing to happen to the Navy, ever, IMO. At that time it was, "Sailors and Dogs Keep off of the grass!"

I could have retired with 20 in 2004, and I deeply regret not doing so now.

yeah, I'd be 3 years away from retiring if I stayed in. Sometimes I wish I would've, but man.....I was SO ready to get out after 4.

though my sea/shore rotation for my job was 4 at sea, 6 on shore.

I hear ya Tim, it would sure be nice now!

Yeah, I could have done it in 88 myself, as I had already put in 5. But at the time, it was so unpopular that I wanted nothing more to do with it.

Heck, they were offering almost a years pay as a bonus to re-enlist, instead I got out with a young family and got a job for $3.26 an hour at Beechcraft.

I think my re-enlistment bonus back in 2000 was $36k.

Holy crap! :wayne: Of course it was probably about the same to turn that down as it was $8,000 in 73.

If I could have gone to a normal ship, I might have considered it - I was six months from going up for E-6 when I got out. But I was due to go back to sea, and for my rating that meant a carrier, and I had no desire whatsoever to be on a ****ing carrier for three years.

brother retired from the navy in 2004 after 26 years...been working for dod ever since. doing pretty good.
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1973:
http://thecostofliving.com/assets/im...9/home_01a.png
The average house cost $32,500
Equivalent today: $159,980
http://thecostofliving.com/assets/im...0-2009/car.png
The average car cost $3,650
Equivalent today: $17,967
http://thecostofliving.com/assets/im...-2009/user.png
The average wage was $7,580
Equivalent today: $37,312


2000:
http://thecostofliving.com/assets/im...9/home_01a.png
The average house cost $169,000
Equivalent today: $214,737
http://thecostofliving.com/assets/im...0-2009/car.png
The average car cost $23,000
Equivalent today: $29,225
http://thecostofliving.com/assets/im...-2009/user.png
The average wage was $32,155
Equivalent today: $40,857






http://thecostofliving.com/2011.html

Why no link to the hard-working authors that bring you news?

George Takei put the story on his FB feed and I copy/pasted it from there. I can go dig up the link if you'd like. It was from Yahoo News.

Meh... just hate when journalists don't get even a chance at receiving some web traffic for the work they do. :shrug:

I'm interested in why a carrier is suck duty, how is life aboard one different from other ships?

;) He was a "blackshoe" and not an "airdale."

Oops, I think he was a Yeoman, so I am not sure.

Obviously we can't have both a Navy and schools that churn out reeruns like yourself.

I was on a supply ship my first time around. Not bad duty, unless you're in the supply department. Then it's hell on earth. But the good thing about being on a supply ship is when you run out of shit to give everybody else, you have to go back to port to pick up more shit, so half the time were were deployed we were in port somewhere.

And after getting used to that, I had no desire to be assigned to a ship that might deploy for 10 months or longer, could only dock in two or three ports in the med anyway due to its size, and otherwise stand in line with several thousand guys waiting to take liberty boats ashore. **** that. I guess I could have just gotten myself stationed at a base overseas, but I didn't want to live out of the country for that long, either. And I had just had enough, too.

But that pension and free health care forever would be sweet.

My Navy lingo is poor, that went over my head.

Having watched most episodes of "Carrier" though, it does look like pretty tough duty on one, they keep those mfers moving steady and are reeeal douchebags about what people wear while on shore leave.

See post 40.

I was a Legalman when I got out. Small community, the only sea billets were on carriers.

Got it

Your sleeping accomodations for those 10 months:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2120/...e2f2198ce3.jpg

Yeah, those pathetic looking mattresses always stuck out to me when i watched the show.

Looks like something you get in jail.

Heck, things might have changed by now, but I doubt it. There was a friendly rivalry and smack between the two.

A "blackshoe" rate was one that didn't have the little wings on the outside of the insignia that differentiates the specialty, between the Eagle and the stripes on their left arm.
Those rates are ones that are usually pretty fundamental to the operation of a ship, but they will also be assigned to shore duty, in support of those functions.
A Yeoman (office person) is needed everywhere, much like a "corpsman" and many other of those types of rates.
The poor Boatswain's mate, now those guys had it rough. Holy crap, no way could I have stuck that out. They had to spend days on end below decks etc.

An "airdale" like myself, had the little wings on the outside of my rate specialty, right below the eagle and the stripes. I was specially trained in aircraft electrical systems. So any ship assignment, would be related to aircraft, not the ship.

That is a new one on me Tim, I don't recall ever hearing of that rate. I remember having to check out with the legal officer when I would transfer, but that is about it.

Jails are probably less crowded. For a brief time my best friend (enlisted in the Air Force) was stationed at Hampton AFB while my ship was inport at Norfolk. I showed him the berthing areas and he was absolutely horrified. In his barracks at the Air Force base he had a room to himself and a bathroom he shared with one other person. You had to be at least a department head (lieutenant commander or above) to get a private stateroom, and the only people who had private heads were the captain and XO.

So basically, as an E-nothing in the Air Force he had better accommodations than all but the top two officers on my ship.

It sucked.

They didn't exist when you were in. The rating didn't exist below E-5 (sort of like Master-at-Arms), and you had be an E-4 to apply for the school.

Lockers?? You had separate lockers? Damn. We were stuck with the under bunk space. And you are right, we loved Zumwalt and his changes. He pretty much put the state-side locker clubs out of business. And after spending 3 days aboard a Kiwi destroyer, I realized that the US Navy was still in the living in the past.

I made E-6 in a little over 4 years and after 6 years had two options: 1) go NESEP and become an officer or got to B-School and make chief, teach A-School or NPS for 2 years and go back to the fleet. I was torn which way to go, until the Bosslady said "Pick what ever one you want, 'cause I'll be in KC. You can visit whenever you want." It seems that I actually had 3 options.

I hated carriers 'cause the prices for everything went up. Whether it was pu$$y or beer. The freakin' locals knew exactly when a big ship was coming in when we couldn't get that info through official channels. It took me little while to figure out how they knew.

Yeah. That's why I encouraged my nephew to go Air Force.

Two advantages to being the Navy (at least back then). You make rank faster, and you got to travel all over the world.

Air Force might have nicer accommodations, but if they're in Minot for three and a half years while you don't get advanced, well, I'll take the berthing compartment on the ship over that shit.

When I was in there were Air Force guys who would RETIRE as E-5s.

You just described why I volunteered EARLY for everything that would get me away from that environment. Subs, Aviation, Seals, UDT, every and anything that came up. The one assignment I had on a ship, USS Butte, lasted 6 weeks and we slept on the work benches in the avionics shop. :D


that explains, thanks.

That sucks. As I recall he's an E-5. He's been in a bit over eight years. He was stationed in Japan at one point, he's in Turkey right now. He seems to enjoy it.

Yeah, that's the thing - had I stayed in I would have made E-6 in just over six years. And had I not been a lazy ass when I first got in I could have made E-6 in four years.

LMAO

I remember watching that episode it was a gas.

Captain James A. Kirk is a native of Bethesda, MD. Wonder how long it will be before his family settles in Riverside, IA.