ORIGINAL: irrelevant
GHWB's major contribution to Naval Aviation was to validate the Lifeguard Submarine concept.
If you want to name one after a naval aviator (and what could possibly be more appropriate), how about USS Wade McCluskey?
LOL for the first remark.
Agree on the second, although McCluskey made a mistake at Midway which could have had serious consequences.
From the
Pacific War Historical Society website:
Through his binoculars, McClusky could see that the three closest Japanese carriers were manoeuvring frantically to avoid an attack by American Navy torpedo bombers. The attacking aircraft were in fact Yorktown's Torpedo Squadron Three (VT-3). McClusky was amazed to find no Zeros barring their path to the Japanese carriers. There was not a moment to lose, and McClusky broke radio silence to assign targets. He assigned one carrier (Kaga) as his target and another (Akagi) to Lieutenant Richard H. "Dick" Best's Bombing Six. At 1022, McClusky pushed over his SBD and plunged like a vengeful thunderbolt on Kaga. Twenty-six of his SBDs followed him in the dive on Kaga.
[...]
Lieutenant Commander McClusky had breached dive-bombing doctrine by diving on Kaga instead of the more distant Akagi. As the trailing squadron, Lieutenant Dick Best's Bombing Six should have dived on Kaga. McClusky's Scouting Six, which was the leading squadron, should have flown further on and dived on Akagi. Dick Best did not receive McClusky's assignment of targets by radio, and followed doctrine by preparing to dive on Kaga. He was startled when McClusky and Scouting Six flashed past him in their own dive on Kaga. With commendable presence of mind, Best retrieved the potentially dangerous situation by closing his dive-flaps and signalling Bombing Six to follow him towards Akagi. It was too late! McClusky's error caused all of Bombing Six except Best's two wing men to follow McClusky and Scouting Six in their dive on Kaga. The seriousness of McClusky's error can only be fully appreciated when it is realised that it could have led all of the Enterprise SBDs to attack Kaga and leave the Japanese flagship Akagi untouched!
Other appropriate names would be Waldron, Leslie, Thach, O'Hare, McCampbell - also Marine Corps pilots like Foss, Bauer, Smith or Boyington - imagine a CVN called 'Pappy'. [:D]
