This link will answer your question.

Ship Naming in the United States Navy

I don't think there was a decision to use themes as ship names. For example, the KittyHawk, commissioned in 1961, is named for the city where the Wright Bros, first flew.

The Ronald Reagan was christened 3 months ago.

Neither one is a battle nor a 'minor politician'.

It must have occurred soon after World War II. The USS Forrestal was one of the first carriers named after a person instead of a battle.

BTW, at one time all classes of warships had their own standards for names. Carriers were named after famous battles in U.S. history, battleships were named after states, cruisers were named after large cities, destroyers were named after historical figures, and submarines were named after fish.

Probably when Admirals revered politicians more than war.

Aircraft carrier names have never been rigidly named after battles, the way traditionally battleships (B and BB) were named after states and cruisers (CA and CL) were named after American cities and submarines after fish.

Our first carrier was the USS Langley.

Lexington and Saratoga, our second and third carriers, were converted from battlecruisers in the 1920s -- the battle cruisers were all to have had names from American battles, but when we finally did build battlecruisers (CB) during WWII, they were named for territories (USS Alaska and Guam)

The next group of carriers in the 1930s were named for Revolutionary War American ships: e.g. Hornet, Wasp, Enterprise.

Battle names came in during WWII, e.g. Midway and Coral Sea as did the names of important politicians, as in the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt.

After WWII, the first of our new carriers was the USS Forrestal, named for the first Secretary of Defense. Newer carrier names seem mostly to have followed that pattern, except where an older name was used (Enterprise) or another name was selected (America).

I don't mind naming ships after historic figures, but it is quite a step down from John Paul Jones, Winston Churchill or Chester Nimitz down to Rivers, Stennis etc...

Don't forget the USS Nimitz, named after Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Keel laid in 1968.

One of my sons liked to say that he slept above a nuclear plant and under a major airport!

Those carriers were not named after battles -- they were named after famous Navy ships (which were named after battles). A little bit of a difference, but a difference nonetheless.

Maybe the Army could learn a thing or two here- how about promising lawmakers voting on Defense appropriations that we could name a nice Division for, say, Jim Jeffords, or Hillary Clinton?? Works for the Navy, apparently. And that old system of numbering Army Divisions is boring, don't you think?

Just imagine- the 82nd Airborne Division ("Hillary's Own!").

The USS Jim Robinson. :o)

...destroyers were named after historical figures...

Nope. Destroyers were (and are) named after Navy and Marine Corps folks which have gone above and beyond the call of duty (and are typically killed while doing so).

Snarky comments aside, I saw no real answer to the question you asked to start this thread- how the hell did Joh n Stennis come to have a billion-dollar Carrier named for him? Or Carl Vinson? This is pandering, pure and simple.

Heard a rumor from a Navy source that CVN77 -- the last of the Nimitz class carriers -- will be named Lexington, after its WWII predecessor (CV-2).

CVG ? ... Kittyhawk
CVG ? ... Enterprise
CVG 67 ... Nimitz
CVG 69 ... Eisenhower
CVG ? ... Ronald Reagan
Anyone out there with carrier numbers or names?

"One of my sons liked to say that he slept above a nuclear plant and under a major airport!"

I too served on the Nimitz, from 1979 to 1981. If you can sleep with aircraft landing on your bedroom roof, you can sleep anywhere.

List of all U.S. aircraft carriers

Those carriers were not named after battles -- they were named after famous Navy ships (which were named after battles). A little bit of a difference, but a difference nonetheless.

What about Midway and Coral Sea?

The tweleve carriers are:

The Harry S. Truman, Constellation, John F. Kennedy, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Chester Nimitz, Carl Vinson, Theodore Roosevelt, Kitty Hawk, Enterprise and the Ronald Reagan.

The trend has actually been to name them after major Presidents.