Wednesday, June 23, 2010 - 02:03 AM UTC
Ahoy Shipmates…

Welcome to the kick off of a new column here at MSW, Namesakes. We will learn the faces behind a ships name. Why a certain person, place, or thing was used to name a ship. Sit, sit back enjoy and if you wish to know about any certain ship, let me know.

Coming soon….Essex, Varyag, and?????
Well, since I am a very big fan of the man, I figured I would start off with him. Plus he only has one ship named for him and that part will be easier on me. As we all know Ronald Reagan was an actor who served two terms as President of the United States, 1981-1989. But, there is more to the man than many of us know.

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in a small apartment over a commercial building in Tampico Illinois, Feb 6, 1911. In 1920 he moved to the small town of Dixon Illinois. Here he attended Dixon High School and became a life Guard at Lowell Park on the Rock River. Here he is credited with saving 77 lives while on guard.

He attended Eureka College in Eureka Illinois. After graduating in 1932 he drove himself to Iowa to audition for small town Radio stations. His first post college job was with the University of Iowa where be broadcast the Hawkeye football games. Later he landed a job broadcasting for WHO in Des Moines Iowa. Here he would create play by play for the Chicago Cubs from wire reports of the games.

In 1937 while on the road with the Cubs he had a screen test and found his way into a contract with Warner Bros. He made many different B-films before making an impact with the 1939 release “Dark Victory.” He followed this with “Knute Rockne, All American” and then the 1942 critical hit, “Kings Row.” This last film he claimed “made me a star.” However, he joined the Army two months after its release.

Oddly enough Reagan actually began his military career in April 1937, as a private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry at Des Moines, Iowa. He became a Second Lieutenant in May, 1937. He was ordered to active duty in 1942. Due to his nearsightedness he was not allowed overseas duty. He first began as a port liaison officer at Fort Madison in California. He was transferred from the cavalry to the Air Corps in May 1942. Reagan then was moved to the 1st Motion Picture Unit. While being assigned to this unit he took part in War Bond drives and helped produce close to 400 training films. He rose to the rank of Captain during his military service.

After the war he held smaller acting roles and was President of SAG, the Screen Actors Guild. This turned his attention to politics. In 1966 he ran for governor of California and won. He served as governor until 1975. In 1976 he ran for the Republican nomination fro President, loosing to Gerald Ford. In 1980 he won the Republican nomination and the General election for President.

During his time as President he pushed for a 600 ship navy to help fend off the dangers of the Soviet Union. He began the largest peacetime expansion of the US military in history. He is quoted with many famous lines, including “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down this Wall.”
He left the Presidency in 1989 and retired to his ranch in California. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 1994. On June 5, 2004 Ronald Wilson Reagan 40th President of the United States died at his home in California.

Some of the tributes awarded to Reagan include, The Presidential Medal of Freedom, The Congressional Gold Medal, The Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1989, Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, Republican Senatorial Medal of Freedom, and the highest Polish distinction, the Order of the White Eagle. Several buildings, highways, streets, roads, and other municipal structures were named for him as well, including Reagan National Airport.

Before his death the Navy christened the 9th Nimitz Class Carrier for the former President. In July 2003 the ship was commissioned and she has served her country ever since.

Some interesting facts about the Reagan are:

• Distillation plants provide 400,000 gallons of fresh water daily or enough to supply 2,000 homes.
• Nearly 30,000 light fixtures, 1,400 telephones and 1,325 miles of cable and wiring
• Towers 20 stories above the waterline.
• Displaces approximately 97,000 tons (98,556.67 metric tons) with a full load.
• Flight deck covers an area of 4.5 acres.
• Length is 1,096 feet; nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall.
• Width is 134 feet at the waterline.
• Four bronze propellers: each one is 21 feet across and weighs 66,220 pounds.
• Two rudders: each one is 29 feet by 22 feet and weighs 50 tons.
• Arresting cables — Each carrier-based aircraft has a tail hook used to catch one of the three steel cables stretched across the deck, bringing the plane, traveling at 150 miles per hour, to a complete stop in about 320 feet.
• Catapults — One of four steam-powered catapults thrusts a 60,000-pound aircraft 300 feet, from zero to 165 miles per hour in two seconds.
• Anchors - two 30-ton Navy standard stockless anchors attached to 1,080 feet of chain for each anchor. The anchors are from USS RANGER (CV 61), decommissioned in 1993.

The Reagan has taken part in several different operations since her maiden deployment in 2006. The Reagan while being a Nimitz class carrier can almost be classified as her own class. She was the first carrier to have a bulbous bow. This allows her to cruise through the water with less resistance. It is estimated having such a feature can reduce drag by as much as 15%. During World War II Japan fitted the Yamato and Oyodo with such bows. This is what led to the discovery of the third Yamato hull being converted to a carrier.

The angled deck on the Reagan was also moved. It is angled at 9.15 instead of 9.05. This allows for launching and recovery operations to be held at the same time. There is also one less arresting wire, 3 versus the regular 4. Inside the island and in CIC, Combat Information Center, there are upgrades to include the newest technology. She had 800 ton air conditioning plants instead of the typical 360 tons plants. There are numerous improvements in her mechanical systems as well, but listing all of those would be boring.

She is the first carrier to carry the Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM) system instead of the previous Close-In Weapons System (CIWS) or R2D2 Guns. For the first time the 50 person life rafts were added to a carrier. The previous rafts carried 25 people. The new rafts offer longer life at lower cost. The island is larger and her elevators can carry larger loads than her sisters. Many of the features built into the Reagan will be carried over to the Ford Class ships.

In 2010 the Reagan was awarded the CNO’s “S” for safety award. In 2009 she was awarded the Battle E, her second consecutive and third in four years. Ronald Reagan was unable to attend the launching of his namesake due to illness. He surely would have loved to see her side into the water.

Ronald Wilson Reagan has been called many things in the press since his death. His policies have been debated and his legacy attacked. None the less, I admire the man born in a small room, in a small town, in Central Illinois. I had the pleasure of walking the halls he walked of Dixon High School. I walked the park along the Rock River where he saved lives. For all these memories and more I have chosen him to lead off my new feature.

May the men and women of the USS Ronald Reagan, CVN76, have fair winds and following seas. And may we all remember the ship and the man she was named for.
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