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Earth Moon Space The Military United States Science

United States Navy Names Ship After Neil Armstrong 71

Posted by Soulskill from the pride-of-the-planet dept.
SchrodingerZ writes "In the wake of Neil Armstrong's death, the United States Navy has announced this week that a new research vessel will be named in his honor. This ship will be the first Armstrong-class Auxiliary General Oceanographic Research (AGOR) ship in the world. This ship got its name from secretary Ray Mabus, who wanted to honor the first man to set foot on the moon. 'Naming this class of ships and this vessel after Neil Armstrong honors the memory of an extraordinary individual, but more importantly, it reminds us all to embrace the challenges of exploration and to never stop discovering,' say Mabus. Armstrong, before his career at NASA, flew in combat missions during the Korean war. 'The Armstrong-class AGOR ship will be a modern oceanographic research platform equipped with acoustic equipment capable of mapping the deepest parts of the oceans, and modular on-board laboratories that will provide the flexibility to meet a wide variety of oceanographic research challenges.' It will be 238 feet long, beam length of 50 feet, and will be able to travel at 12 knots. The ship is currently under construction in Anacortes, Washington."
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United States Navy Names Ship After Neil Armstrong More

United States Navy Names Ship After Neil Armstrong

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  • Juxtaposition (Score:4, Insightful)

    by dtmos ( 447842 ) * on Friday September 28, 2012 @12:17PM (#41489491)

    . . . it reminds us all to embrace the challenges of exploration and to never stop discovering.

    Placed just above the submission, "Astronomy Portfolio Review Recommends Defunding US's Biggest Telescope," the combination tells you all you need to know.

    • Re:Juxtaposition (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 28, 2012 @12:30PM (#41489667)

      'The Armstrong-class AGOR ship will be a modern oceanographic research platform equipped with acoustic equipment capable of mapping the deepest parts of the oceans, and modular on-board laboratories that will provide the flexibility to meet a wide variety of oceanographic research challenges.'

      It's a research ship, with a different funding path than the telescope. If there is any case of money from the telescope being spent on this, then it's a good tradeoff because this might actually help us understand a little bit more about the wet rock we live on. I'm in favor of looking at distant rocks and plasmas, but immidiate surroundings are a little more useful to understand.

    • If you could build a telescope that could make detailed underwater maps of strategic, potentially oil-rich, regions in the North Atlantic, it'd get funded too.

  • Would Neil want this? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nucrash ( 549705 ) on Friday September 28, 2012 @12:27PM (#41489633)
    Neil Armstrong was both a humble man and a great pioneer. I can't help to ask if this is something that he would want. Yet I am proud that they at least picked a ship that would be used for exploration and not some destroyer or cruiser.
  • you cannot do any space exploration because the US is spending huge amounts of money on the military (that it does not need), but here have a ship named after a space pioneer to make you feel better.

    • cannot do any space exploration?~! (Score:5, Informative)

      by xxxJonBoyxxx ( 565205 ) on Friday September 28, 2012 @01:06PM (#41490155)

      >> you cannot do any space exploration because the US is spending huge amounts of money on the military

      Seen any news about Mars lately? Thought so. Then also check out:
      http://www.nasa.gov/missions/current/index.html [nasa.gov]

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Dan667 ( 564390 )
        the US is building several aircraft carriers it does not need (it already has 11). Imagine what real work could be done if the billions wasted on these unneeded military projects was spent on something useful.
    • Well, here's a motivational [eccentrici...gency.info] to help keep morale up. Normally I prefer demotivational posters, but Neil was a good exception. And although I'm glad the military reserved the honor for a research vessel, I definitely wish more --or most -- of the enormous budget of military could be directed toward exploring rather than what seems to me exuberant and sometimes reckless "defense". While we bicker over resources and paranoid fears, a whole universe is neglected, not least the endless one of human potential. Ide

  • Ok, so they decided to honor the man. Great. They even named a research vessel class after him. Spiffy.

    But am I the only though who is somewhat depressed that we named an ocean vessel after him, and not a class of spaceships? I mean..... isn't that just a bit a step backwards?

    Sigh. Today doesn't seem to be a good day for space, research or the human race.

    • not a class of spaceships?

      Maybe the Star Trek folks will pick it up.

      That's the best that you can hope for in our lifetimes . . .

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      There's no reason he can't have a class of spaceship one day too. I don't understand why everyone is so bleak that he got a boat.

      • Re:Nice, but..... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by erice ( 13380 ) on Friday September 28, 2012 @01:51PM (#41490693) Homepage

        There's no reason he can't have a class of spaceship one day too. I don't understand why everyone is so bleak that he got a boat.

        Because looking forward from the era of Apollo 11, it seemed so certain that there would be suitable space ships within Neil Armstrong's lifetime. Now the hero is gone and the best we can offer is a boat with a hope that "someday" there may be a space ship. Our ambitions and expectations have truly diminished.

    • How many different spacecraft are there coming on line in the next couple of years to afford naming rights?

      Let's face it, the military is the only branch of government with a budget big enough to have a fleet of vessels anymore.

    • Ok, so they decided to honor the man. Great. They even named a research vessel class after him. Spiffy.

      But am I the only though who is somewhat depressed that we named an ocean vessel after him, and not a class of spaceships? I mean..... isn't that just a bit a step backwards?

      Sigh. Today doesn't seem to be a good day for space, research or the human race.

      Ocean exploration is just as important as space exploration, arguably more so. I'm certainly an advocate of space exploration, but I think the idea of naming a class of research vessels after the man is both a great way to honor him and to recognize his passion for exploration of all sorts, not just space.

    • Re:Nice, but..... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by tomhath ( 637240 ) on Friday September 28, 2012 @02:29PM (#41491361)
      He was a Navy pilot before becoming an astronaut. So an ocean research ship is appropriate. Maybe some day they'll name the first permanent Moon base after him too.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xtifr ( 1323 )

      I'm too busy being pleased that they're honoring an explorer instead of just someone else with a high body count. In any case, there's a good chance it'll get re-used later. In case you haven't noticed, that tends to happen a lot with vehicle names.

  • I was certain they named this vessel after Lance, the world's most celebrated undecororated, non-ever-having-won the tour-de-france, non-medalist ever.

  • One day they'll name cities after him. On the Moon, or perhaps on Mars. One day there will be an Armstrong City on a planet with a Gliese number.

    One day. For now, though, it seems the best we can do is a ship.

  • What would happen if the first man on the moon's name was "Wussy McSissypants" or something.

    Sailor: "Sigh, yes I have just been assigned to the USS Sinkable, a McSissypants class cruiser..."

    For the future, I think for the next big step (pardon pun) in human achievement the US needs to find someone with the name Manly Bigpenis or something.

  • Im surprised, they haven held names out to the highest bidders like USS Comcast or USS Wellsfargo.

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