The third ship to be named the Mason (DDG-87) was commissioned in April 2003. The first Mason (DD-191) was named for John Young Mason, secretary of the Navy under Presidents John Tyler and James K. Polk; the second (DE-529) was named for Ensign Newton Henry Mason, a naval aviator and posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross awardee. The current Mason also honors the allAfrican American crew of the second Mason.
I have no problem with honoring these men by naming a ship after them, but why are so many names recycled? The Preble (DDG-88), for instance, is the sixth ship to bear that name. Why not honor some new people? There are plenty of women who have never been so honored—and they deserve to be.
Of the current inventory of 293 Navy ships, only one is named for a woman, the Hopper (DDG-70) (the Roosevelt [DDG-80] is named for both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt). In fact, of the thousands of ships that have served in the Navy, only ten have honored women. The most recent prior to the Hopper (commissioned in 1996) was in 1945, when the Higbee (DD-806) was named for Lenah S. Higbee, Superintendent of the Navy Nurse Corps from 1911 to 1922. Other Navy vessels to have carried women's names are the Harriet Lane, Elizabeth C. Stanton (AP-69), Pocahontas (YT-266), Florence Nightingale (AP-70), Mary Lyon (AP-71), Dix (AP-67), Susan B. Anthony (AP-72), and Watseka (YT-387). One other vessel, a harbor tug (YT-266), was named to honor Lewis and Clark's Indian guide Sacagawea, but the tug was never put into naval service.
There are many deserving women who meet the requirements set for ship naming by the secretary of the Navy. One such person is Captain Kathleen A. McGrath. Captain McGrath was the first woman to command a naval warship, the Jarrett (FFG-33), in 1998-2000. Under her command, the Jarrett conducted a five-month Iraqi embargo patrol in the Persian Gulf and participated in search-and-rescue operations for a downed Marine Corps CH-46 helicopter and Alaska Airlines Flight 261. She also was the first women chief staff officer of a destroyer squadron staff and was one of the first women to have had two seagoing commands. As a lieutenant commander, she commanded a salvage and rescue ship, the Recovery (ARS-43). Her final tour of duty was at the Joint Advanced Warfighting Program at the Institute for Defense Analysis. Captain McGrath died in September 2002 of cancer. Her death marked the loss of a polential future flag officer.
Captain McGrath never thought she was anyone special, and downplayed her notoriety and role-model status by indicating she was just doing her job. But anyone who is or has been in the Navy understands that "just doing your job" as a woman entails much more than that. Being a pioneer and pushing the glass ceiling is never easy, and doing it under scrutiny makes it that much more stressful. A warship in the Navy's inventory named for a female war fighter is something many American women will appreciate.
Retired lieutenant Commander Greg Brandon is heading a campaign to have a ship named after his late wife. In a response letter to that effort, Senator John Warner (R-VA) stated, "Captain McGrath's legacy as the first woman to command a Navy warship is historic, and naming a ship in her memory would be a most meaningful way to keep her significant contributions to the Navy and women in the military known to all."
The time is right to name another ship for a woman, and that woman should be Captain McGrath. For parity and a semblance of equality, it would behoove the secretary of the Navy to name more ships Cor our female pioneers, such as American Red Cross founder Clara Barton, aviators Amelia Earhart and Jackie Cochran, astronaut Sally Ride, or merchant marine captain Mary Parker Converse. There is no limit to the women who deserve to be so honored.
Commander Iskra was a special operalions officer and commanded the Opportune (ARS-41) in 1990-93.