Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
 

47of74

(18,470 posts)
Thu Oct 31, 2013, 09:18 AM Oct 2013

Captain James Kirk to command new US Navy ship

Yes there is a real Captain James Kirk. And yes, he is being tapped to command a US Naval vessel.

The commander of the U.S. Navy's sleek new guided-missile destroyer, which launched late last week in Maine, has a name to match its space-age look: Captain Kirk.

Captain James Kirk, the prospective commanding officer of USS Zumwalt, will lead the 610-foot vessel, the Navy's largest destroyer and first of three new Zumwalt-class ships "designed for littoral operations and land attack," the Navy said.

Kirk, a native of Bethesda, Md., was commissioned at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1990 and has served in a variety posts as a "surface warfare officer," according to his online bio. "Ashore, Captain Kirk has served as Executive Assistant to the Navy’s Chief of Legislative Affairs and as an Action Officer on the Joint Staff."

Kirk obtained a master's degrees in national security studies at the U.S. Naval War College and U.S. Army War College, where he undoubtedly heard more than his share of "Star Trek" jokes.


Congratulations Captain Kirk!
8 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Captain James Kirk to command new US Navy ship (Original Post) 47of74 Oct 2013 OP
Dang, that's not your mother's destroyer... malthaussen Oct 2013 #1
Life Imitates Art. bananas Oct 2013 #2
To go along with that Fortinbras Armstrong Oct 2013 #3
Incidentally, it would be appropriate for him to command the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) Fortinbras Armstrong Oct 2013 #4
I wonder how many sailors he's busted down to bilge-cleaning duty... krispos42 Oct 2013 #5
Congrats to the Captain but YankeyMCC Nov 2013 #6
As long as their uniforms aren't red they have a chance. Bill Lermer Nov 2013 #7
BREAKING!! To Save The World, Captain Kirk Forced To Blow Up the USS Zumwalt wyldwolf Nov 2013 #8

malthaussen

(17,672 posts)
1. Dang, that's not your mother's destroyer...
Thu Oct 31, 2013, 09:31 AM
Oct 2013

... looks like it should be submersible even though of course it isn't.

-- Mal

bananas

(27,509 posts)
2. Life Imitates Art.
Thu Oct 31, 2013, 10:14 AM
Oct 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imitating_art

Life imitating art

Anti-mimesis is a philosophical position that holds the direct opposite of Aristotelian mimesis. Its most notable proponent is Oscar Wilde, who opined in his 1889 essay The Decay of Lying that, "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life". In the essay, written as a Platonic dialogue, Wilde holds that anti-mimesis "results not merely from Life's imitative instinct, but from the fact that the self-conscious aim of Life is to find expression, and that Art offers it certain beautiful forms through which it may realise that energy.".[1][2]

The philosophy holds that art sets the aesthetic principles by which people perceive life, and does not imitate life. What is found in life and nature is not what is really there, but is that which artists have taught people to find there, through art. As in an example posited by Wilde, although there has been fog in London for centuries, one notices the beauty and wonder of the fog because "poets and painters have taught the loveliness of such effects...They did not exist till Art had invented them.".[1]

<snip>

Fortinbras Armstrong

(4,473 posts)
3. To go along with that
Thu Oct 31, 2013, 12:32 PM
Oct 2013

There used to be a press officer at the prison at Guantanamo Bay named Lieutenant Mike Kafka.

Fortinbras Armstrong

(4,473 posts)
4. Incidentally, it would be appropriate for him to command the USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
Thu Oct 31, 2013, 01:55 PM
Oct 2013

Unfortunately, she has recently been decommissioned. And the next USS Enterprise (CVN-80) probably won't commission until 2025 or 2027.

krispos42

(49,445 posts)
5. I wonder how many sailors he's busted down to bilge-cleaning duty...
Thu Oct 31, 2013, 03:24 PM
Oct 2013

...for making impromptu "Star Trek" skits?

YankeyMCC

(8,401 posts)
6. Congrats to the Captain but
Fri Nov 1, 2013, 07:31 AM
Nov 2013

I wish any poor sailor assigned to security details attached to the ship best of luck.

wyldwolf

(43,891 posts)
8. BREAKING!! To Save The World, Captain Kirk Forced To Blow Up the USS Zumwalt
Tue Nov 19, 2013, 05:54 PM
Nov 2013

Officers and crew slip off quietly after activating self-destruct sequence, leaving Somali pirates on-board.

Latest Discussions»Culture Forums»Science Fiction»Captain James Kirk to com...