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USS George H.W. Bush commissioned
NORFOLK, Va. -- President George W. Bush landed Saturday on the USS George H.W. Bush, a new aircraft carrier named after his father -- the ultimate honor for a decorated Navy pilot from World War II."So what do you give a guy who has been blessed and has just about everything he has ever needed?" the president asked the estimated 20,000 gathered for the commissioning at Naval Station Norfolk. "Well, an aircraft carrier. Laura and I are thrilled to be here to help commission an awesome ship and to honor an awesome man," Bush said. The steel-gray vessel is more than three football fields long, one in the Nimitz class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers that are the largest warships on the world. Its price tag is just as hefty: $6.2 billion. The elder Bush, 84, told the ship's crew, his voice quavering at times with emotion, that they will form "an unbroken line of patriots protecting this special piece of American territory. As someone who has stood that watch and remembers the quiet solitude of that experience, I know you will find comfort and inspiration," he said, "particularly in the night sky, where it is basking in the splendor of the night stars that you will truly understand the majesty of creation and bear witness to the certain hand of God." Doro Bush Koch, the president's sister and ship's sponsor, had the honor of bringing the carrier to life. With the words, "Man our ship. Bring her to life," hundreds of sailors charged up gangplanks as a band played "Anchors Aweigh". Four F-18s flew overhead, followed by a solo World War II torpedo bomber similar to the one the elder Bush flew during the war. The mood was celebratory aboard the ship, spit and polished for its unveiling. The Marine One presidential helicopter ferried the president, his father and their wives to its deck. It was sunny, but a chilly breeze greeted the president, his father and their wives got off the helicopter with their wives. George H.W. Bush, sporting a purple scarf inside his overcoat, walked with a cane to a golf cart. He got in the back seat with former first lady Barbara Bush; the president grinned and waved as he took the driver's seat with his wife by his side. Unexpectedly to onlookers, the entire section of the deck -- actually an elevator -- dropped slowly to the floor below. They drove to the ceremony site that overlooked thousands of guests attending the ceremony on the carrier, decorated in red-white-and-blue bunting. Ooooooh, there's elevators on aircraft carriers? Looks like AP sent out another one of their "military experts" out to cover this. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, one of the first speakers, said there is no one more worthy than the former president to have the last ship of the Nimitz class to bear his name -- "the last of the World War II generation to serve as commander in chief." A bronze statue on the hangar bay deck of the 1,092-foot warship depicts the former president as a youthful, smiling pilot in his flight suit. On an upper deck, a "tribute room" presents Bush's life from his days in the Navy to his four years in the White House. No other former president has visited a carrier named after him. Ronald Reagan was the first living ex-president to have a carrier named in his honor, but Reagan was unable to visit the vessel before he died. Maybe Clinton will still be around to visit the honey barge that they'll eventually name after him... Posted by: tu3031 2009-01-10 |
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