heinleinblog

There’s a Star Trek role-paying group that is based on a “USS Heinlein.” But there’s a real life effort underway to get the U.S. Navy to name a ship after the Master. I found the following on alt.fan.heinlein.

The Navy is looking for a name for it’s new Zumwalt class destroyer. They don’t have RAH’s name listed. Since he graduated from the Naval academy (class of ‘29) and since his 100th birthday is coming up it would be nice for the Navy to honor him.

If you go to this link http://www.usszumwalt.com/mos/ and look at the right hand side of the page you will find a list of names. You can click “none of the above” and then click submit your choice. Write in USS Robert A. Heinlein and click vote. It’s very simple and a wonderful way to honor a very great man.

UPDATE: Here a post from the mastermind behind this plan, as posted an a.f.h.:

I seem to have a bit of time at the moment…but my day may yet blow up.

I’m Tim Kyger, and I work at the Pentagon in Iraq Policy. On my left over my cubical wall are my colleages of the Lebonon desk. A bit beyond them are the folks on the Isreal desk. On my right two cubes down are my colleagues in the Iran shop.

Yes, we’re your one-stop WWIII shop. Indeed.

This is why I’m not very active on the Net or on afh.

But I did restart the USS RAH campaign. Why? RAH’s 100th birthday is coming up, and it would be the perfect time and place for the Navy to announce the naming of a ship for RAH. It’s the best hook we — Heinlein’s Children — have. IMHO anyway; YMMV as always.

There is one person, and only one, by law, who can name a U.S. naval vessel: The Secretary of the Navy. He can name any ship in the Navy anything he wants to. Naturally he is guided by tradition and by an internal Navy process that produces lists of names for him to name ships after. But the fact remains: He is the One Who Can. *If he wants to.*

The SecNav is suscptible to political pressure. That’s what we’re trying to do here.

We send the Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter, letters. We write our Congressmen and Senators, too, asking *them* to write the SecNav. In the meantime, I’m busy trying to get folks on the Hill that I know — various Congresscritters, so forth — to weigh in with naming a ship the U.S.S. RAH. With both lines of political pressure at work, I think we can get a ship named.

Did I also mention that I’m budds with the Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy? He’s sick of me already. *grin*

So, why a DDG-1000? Because it’s a hook to hang a reason on. Heinlein was on destroyers; the DDG-100 boats are destroyers; so…we ask for a destroyer. Furthermore, these are the ships that the Navy wants most at this moment. Such attention on our part will get attention if it’s tied to the Zumwalt boats.

And yes, the plan is for the Zumwalt class of DDGs to be named after (a-hem) former Chiefs of Naval Operations. *bor-ing*

We want to help the Navy sell the product. USS RAH is one way for their DDG-1000 boats to look sexy.

And frankly, the Zumwalt’s are a science fictional boat; a truly 21st Century Naval vessel. The plan is to provide them with electric guns to shoot their projectiles! How stfnal is *that*?

But I’m happy if *any* type of U.S. Navy vessel is named after Heinlein. A littoral combat ship? Sure. An auxiliary vessel? No problem.

But we have to start somewhere, and I’ve kicked the ball off and down the field to ask for a DDG-1000. They haven’t named DDG-1001, much less any of the other 30 Zumwalts the Navy wants to build.

So if you agree, the sample letter’s up there, and I’m also available at TimBKy…@aol.com to answer questions.

Let’s spread the word on this. Cross post this information far and wide please!

Thanks in advance to everyone.

The U.S.S. Robert A. Heinlein. It has to happen sometime; why not now; and why not us? Why *not* for his 100th birthday?!

PS: Yeah, I’d rather have an SSTO named for him. That’ll happen in time. But this is how we get the initional name in the quque.

[tags]Navy,Zumwalt,destroyer,Heinlein[/tags]

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 2nd, 2006 at 6:40 am and is filed under In the news, Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.