Centennial veterans will remember that there was an effort to get one of the three new uber-post-space age DDX destroyers named after Heinlein. We failed. However, the class ship will sail soon, and among her named crew is a man who should have commanded the USS Enterprise, however briefly; could have been named to the USS Heinlein in another universe, but anyway, stand and give a round of applause to the USS Zumwalt's first captain...

James Kirk.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/201 ... -destroyer

A perfect aptronym if ever I saw one. This guy is up against a serious glass ceiling though; his odds of being promoted are pretty slim.

If you're given that name - and he is clearly young enough to have been christened after the show was on - what else are you going to do? Note that although his middle initial is A., that was TOS Kirk's original initial, as seen in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (on the headstone).

As someone pointed out on another forum, the Zumwalt's medical officer is just waiting, waiting for the first onboard fatality.

The belowdecks crew will also be unique in the USN, wearing their red shirts.

Female crew will be given an extensive orientation session and a Taser.

So it is. I think I originally misread it as A. and then got some bee in my bonnet about it being for 'April'.