U.S. Aircraft Carrier Nicknames Quiz

Answer: Abe

A very simple nickname, belonging of course the 16th President. The Lincoln was deployed to the Persian Gulf for Operation Iraqi Freedom. She was out five months longer then her crew expected. As she was returning, just off the coast of the state of Washington, President George W. Bush landed aboard "Abe" on a S-3B Viking.

This was the first aircraft with the call sign "Navy One". President Bush was said to be at the controls of "Navy One" for a while, but Commander Skip Lussier, the executive officer of the Viking squadron, landed the aircraft.

Answer: Tokyo Express

Shangri-La, according to FDR, was the origin of Doolittle's Tokyo Raid. The 16 B25 Mitchell Army Air Force bombers actually took off from the new "Yorktown" class aircraft carrier USS Hornet, CV-8. Shangri-La was a unique name for a US carrier, as all others up to that point were named after other vessels or battles. Admiral John S. McCain Sr. had Shangri-La as flagship of Task Force 2 and later TG 38.4. McCain's son John Jr. and he would become the first father and son to both achieve four star rank in the U.S. Navy. John S. McCain III became a U.S. Senator from Arizona and eventually Republican candidate for President in 2008.

Answer: Big Ben

This was the fifth warship named after founding father Benjamin Franklin. Late in WWII, Franklin was about 50 miles from the Japanese Home Island Honshû. A lone Japanese dive bomber was able to score hits with two 550 pound bombs. These bombs started a chain reaction of explosions among fueled and armed aircraft on Big Ben's flight deck and hanger deck. Over 800 officers and men were killed, making Franklin's KIA total second only to USS Arizona, BB-39. Big Ben was so badly damaged, she had to be towed until enough repairs were made to sail under her own power all the way to New York for thorough repairs.

Answer: Lady Lex

Lady Lex and her only sister, USS Saratoga CV-3, were originally battle cruisers, but were converted to aircraft carriers during construction. This ship was the fourth to be named for the Revolutionary War battle. Lexington was lost at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May of 1942.

The battle was considered a draw, with the US losing a fleet carrier and the Japanese losing a light carrier and many veteran pilots. It was the first setback in WWII for the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Answer: Forest Fire

Named after the first U.S. Secretary of Defense, James Forrestal. Her nickname derives from several fires which occurred on board. The most serious was in 1967, while in the Gulf of Tonkin conducting flight ops in Viet Nam. A "Zuni" rocket loaded on board an F4 Phantom misfired and struck and ruptured a 400 gallon external fuel tank on an A4 Skyhawk.

The fuel ignited and the conflagration took the lives of 134 men. 161 others were injured and 21 aircraft were destroyed.

Answer: Avenger

The ship is named after the 41st U.S. President. George Bush was a carrier pilot during WWII, flying the Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber off of the light carrier USS San Jacinto, CVL-30. When Bush earned his wings three days before his 19th birthday, he became the youngest naval aviator in U.S. history.

He was shot down after attacking Chichijima. He was recovered by the submarine USS Finback, SS-230. Other aircrews from the same strike were shot down, captured, tortured and beheaded. At least one was cannibalized.

Answer: Big E

The WWII Enterprise was the most decorated ship in the U.S. Navy. She won 20 Battle Stars, she and her aircraft sank 71 enemy ships and destroyed 911 enemy aircraft. CVN-65 was the first nuclear powered carrier. She was one of a kind. She had eight reactors instead of the usual two and four rudders instead of the normal two.

She is to be decommissioned and will need to be partially dismantled to remove the eight reactors. A future "Gerald Ford" class carrier, CVN-80, is to be named Enterprise. It will become the ninth U.S. warship to carry that name. CV-6 had other nicknames including Grey Ghost, Galloping Ghost and Lucky E. On more than one occasion, the Japanese reported the Enterprise as sunk, thus creating the ghost and lucky references.

Answer: Old Salt

Nimitz is the lead ship of her class, named after the WWII Pacific Fleet Admiral. In 2012, Nimitz took over as the oldest U.S. carrier in active service, due to CVN-65 USS Enterprise becoming inactive. Commissioned in 1975, USS Nimitz played herself in the 1980 time travel science fiction film "The Final Countdown".

Answer: Connie

"Connie" was the second of three "Kitty Hawk" class carriers. She suffered a severe fire near the end of her construction. A forklift ruptured a 500 gallon tank of diesel fuel. The resulting fire took 17 hours to extinguish. 50 shipyard workers died. The ship's commissioning was delayed seven months and repairs cost $75,000,000.

Answer: Gipper

This ship's nickname comes from the role played by actor Ronald Reagan in the 1940 film "Knute Rockne, All American". In 2007, USS Reagan answered a distress call from a cruise ship off of Baja, California. A Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopter was dispatched to pick up an American civilian on board who had a ruptured appendix.

He was flown back to the Reagan where he underwent emergency surgery.