Presidential Coincidence

So my parents were at the reception of the christening of the USS Jimmy Carter, probably standing on the buffet line right behind the former president and his wife, right around the time that former president Ronald Reagan died yesterday. To my knowledge, the newest Seawolf class submarine was the second US Navy ship named after a contemporary president. The first: USS Ronald Reagan.

I wonder if sailors today will resent serving on a sub named after a president whose politics they don't support as much as I resented the prospect of having to serve on the Regan (which is a nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the type of ship that I served on).

I'm glad that Carter, a USNA grad and former submariner himself, had a boat named after him. And yesterday, I felt surprisingly sad about Reagan, and felt oddly comforted by the fact that at least he has a ship that carries on his name.

Update: It's taken me all week (and 24 years) to figure out how to spell Reagan. I'm blaming it on my radio news habit.