Adms. Chegwhidden and Clancey were said to have served on the U.S.S. Jim Bridger. There is no U.S.S. Jim Bridger but there was a real Jim Bridger. Bridger was a Mountain Man and Army Scout in the West during the mid1800's.
Vice Admiral Clancy was said to be a Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, which is one of the senior leaders in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, which is the administrative office of the Navy. The office is commanded by the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), who is the administrative head of the Navy and the highest ranking officer in the Navy, by statue the CNO is a four-star admiral, is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate and serves a four-year term, with a limit of two terms. The CNO's second-in-command is the Vice Chief of Naval Operations (VCNO), the VCNO is also a four-star admiral and is appointed the same way as the CNO, though there is no term limit for the VCNO. There are several Deputy Chief's of Naval Operations (DCNO), each DCNO oversees a certain section or component of the Navy, for example there is a DCNO that is the Chief of Naval Personnel who is in charge of Manpower, Personnel, Training, & Education; there is a DCNO that acts as the Director of Naval Intelligence, these DCNO's are vice admirals (three-star). There are also DCNO's of: Operations, Plans, & Strategy; Fleet Readiness & Logistics; Integration of Capabilities & Resources; Warfighting Development; and Warfare Systems, each of these officers are rear admirals (two-star).
The Office of the CNO also consists of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON), the highest ranking enlisted sailor in the Navy who is appointed by the CNO to be a spokesperson for the non-commissioned officers in the Navy. A few other important officers in the CNO's staff are the Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Unit, a four-star admiral who serves an eight-year term and is responsible for the safe and reliable operation of the nuclear reactors powering the Navy's aircraft carrier and submarine fleets, this officer also holds a civilian office as they are also a deputy administrator within the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. There is also the Surgeon General of the Navy, a rear admiral (two-star) who is the highest ranking physician in the Navy, the Chief of the Naval Reserve a vice admiral (three-star) that oversees the Navy's reserve component and the Chief of Chaplin's, a rear admiral lower-half (one-star) who is the commanding officer of the Navy's Chaplin Corps.
The Office of the CNO also consists of the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON), the highest ranking enlisted sailor in the Navy who is appointed by the CNO to be a spokesperson for the non-commissioned officers in the Navy. A few other important officers in the CNO's staff are the Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Unit, a four-star admiral who serves an eight-year term and is responsible for the safe and reliable operation of the nuclear reactors powering the Navy's aircraft carrier and submarine fleets, this officer also holds a civilian office as they are also a deputy administrator within the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. There is also the Surgeon General of the Navy, a rear admiral (two-star) who is the highest ranking physician in the Navy, the Chief of the Naval Reserve a vice admiral (three-star) that oversees the Navy's reserve component and the Chief of Chaplin's, a rear admiral lower-half (one-star) who is the commanding officer of the Navy's Chaplin Corps.
Admiral Whelan said that one of the reasons some of the other senior flag officers didn't like Admiral Clancy, especially after he was made one of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, was because Clancy did not graduate from the Naval Academy. While most officers in the Navy graduate from the Naval Academy, going to the Academy is not a requirement for becoming an officer. Graduating from a military academy typically takes four years and doing so is the equivalent to earning a bachelors degree, in fact officers that graduate from the academy are granted a bachelors degree in whichever field they majored in and intended to focus on as an officer. As such anyone who has graduated from a university with at least a bachelors degree, as long as they are over 18 and have no criminal record, may become a commissioned officer in the military after they go through a 10 week officer training course. The most common branch of the Navy (as well as the Air Force and Army) that has officers who didn't graduate from a military academy is the medical corps, a lot of the doctors and nurses in the Navy graduated from civilian university and medical school and then joined up. It is similar for the JAG corps too, a decent number of JAG officers did not graduate from the academy, they attended a civilian law school. Although the majority of JAG officers are academy graduates as the military does offer masters and doctorates of law at the different academies; however there is only one military medical school: Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), which is very competitive as medical students applying to it are seeking a career specifically in the military.
Another interesting fact (and one that can contribute to non-academy officers not being liked as much) is that the rank at which an officer is commissioned at is based on the type of degree they hold. Officers with a bachelors degree are commissioned at paygrade O-1 (Ensign/Second Lieutenant), officers with a masters degree join as an O-2 (Lieutenant J.G./First Lieutenant) and officers with a doctorate join as an O-3 (Lieutenant/Captain).
Another interesting fact (and one that can contribute to non-academy officers not being liked as much) is that the rank at which an officer is commissioned at is based on the type of degree they hold. Officers with a bachelors degree are commissioned at paygrade O-1 (Ensign/Second Lieutenant), officers with a masters degree join as an O-2 (Lieutenant J.G./First Lieutenant) and officers with a doctorate join as an O-3 (Lieutenant/Captain).
One of the theories as to why Admiral Clancy killed himself is because the project he proposed, Project Sentinel, was canceled by Washington, it was said to be a design for a next-generation, high-tech warship. While the name Project Sentinel in terms of the Navy is fictional (it is the name for the Air Force's new nuclear ICBM), it is likely referring to the DD-21 (21st century destroyer) program, which was canceled and restarted several times. The DD-21 program was in the very early stages as of the airing of this episode in 1997, with the goal of designing a new type of land attack ship for the Navy. The result of the program was the Zumwalt-class guided missile stealth destroyer, which presented a radical change in ship design. The lead boat of the class was launched in 2016, the Zumwalt-class was designed to augment the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers and was mainly designed for naval gunfire support and anti-aircraft support. The Zumwalt-class unique design is to give it an extremely narrow radar profile, the ship itself is large, larger than any current destroyer, at 610 feet in length and 15,700 tons displacement it is larger than most cruisers; however the ship's radar signature is smaller than most corvettes, in fact if the ship is at a dead stop and facing a radar source head-on it is virtually undetectable. The Zumwalt is armed with Sea Sparrow anti-aircraft/anti-missile and Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles fired out of the Mk-57 vertical launch system, it is also armed with the new Advanced Gun System, which fires a 155mm (6.1") Long Range Land Attack Projectile, the specifics of it are classified but it is said to "provide the firepower of a battery of six 155 mm howitzers". However the projectiles for this gun cost about $1 million each, as such the Navy decided in 2020 to replace the Advanced Gun System on the Zumwalt-class with the new hypersonic missile launcher. The Navy originally ordered 26 Zumwalt-class destroyers, but mounting program costs made them cancel the order after only three ships, as each Zumwalt-class destroyer costs $4.24 billion to build, for that price the Navy can build four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The Navy decided to restart the Arleigh Burke-class program and will be replacing the planned Zumwalt's with the new Flight III configurations of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the new Flight III Arleigh Burkes cost 1/4th the price of a Zumwalt while having nearly all its capabilities (save for stealth), as of 2021 they even have the ability to intercept and shoot down ICBM's.
As it stands there are only three of these new Zumwalt-class destroyers: USS Zumwalt DDG-1000, launched October 28, 2013 and commissioned October 15, 2016, the Zumwalt is named after Admiral Elmo Russell Zumwalt Jr., the youngest man to date to serve as CNO, he served during the Vietnam War and is known for reforming Navy personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and help eliminate racist practices. USS Michael Monsoor DDG-1001, launched June 20, 2016 and commissioned on January 26, 2019, she is named after Master-at-Arms Second Class Michael A. Monsoor, a U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom on September 29, 2006. PO Monsoor was part of SEAL Team 3, his team was sent to Iraq to train the local Iraqi military where they were under enemy fire on a nearly daily basis. While patrolling local rooftops Monsoor's team encountered insurgents, one of them threw a grenade onto the roof where it landed in the middle of Monsoor's team of SEAL's and Iraqi Army soldiers, Monsoor threw himself on top of the grenade before it went off saving the lives of both teams. In edition to already being awarded two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star, PO Monsoor was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bush. USS Lyndon B. Johnson, DDG-1002, launched December 9, 2018 and as of September 2022 still undergoing sea trials. She is named after President Lyndon B. Johnson who served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Johnson served in the Navy Reserve during World War II as a Lt. Commander, he was awarded the Silver Star for volunteering to lead a dangerous recon mission to scout Japanese air bases in New Guinea for bombing when his plane came under attack by Japanese fighters, despite his plane taking heavy damage and some of the crew being wounded he managed to get the images and intel that allowed the base to be successfully bombed.
As it stands there are only three of these new Zumwalt-class destroyers: USS Zumwalt DDG-1000, launched October 28, 2013 and commissioned October 15, 2016, the Zumwalt is named after Admiral Elmo Russell Zumwalt Jr., the youngest man to date to serve as CNO, he served during the Vietnam War and is known for reforming Navy personnel policies in an effort to improve enlisted life and help eliminate racist practices. USS Michael Monsoor DDG-1001, launched June 20, 2016 and commissioned on January 26, 2019, she is named after Master-at-Arms Second Class Michael A. Monsoor, a U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom on September 29, 2006. PO Monsoor was part of SEAL Team 3, his team was sent to Iraq to train the local Iraqi military where they were under enemy fire on a nearly daily basis. While patrolling local rooftops Monsoor's team encountered insurgents, one of them threw a grenade onto the roof where it landed in the middle of Monsoor's team of SEAL's and Iraqi Army soldiers, Monsoor threw himself on top of the grenade before it went off saving the lives of both teams. In edition to already being awarded two Bronze Stars and a Silver Star, PO Monsoor was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Bush. USS Lyndon B. Johnson, DDG-1002, launched December 9, 2018 and as of September 2022 still undergoing sea trials. She is named after President Lyndon B. Johnson who served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Johnson served in the Navy Reserve during World War II as a Lt. Commander, he was awarded the Silver Star for volunteering to lead a dangerous recon mission to scout Japanese air bases in New Guinea for bombing when his plane came under attack by Japanese fighters, despite his plane taking heavy damage and some of the crew being wounded he managed to get the images and intel that allowed the base to be successfully bombed.
While it is rare, it is not unheard of for Air Force personnel to be at least temporarily stationed on Navy vessels. Occasionally the Air Force and the Navy do an officer exchange program so that pilots, aviation mechanics and flight crews can become familiar with the differences between Air Force and Navy variants of a certain model of plane. A recent example in 2018 was when some Air Force aviation personnel went on a tour of duty aboard the new USS Gerald R. Ford, the lead ship of her new class of aircraft carriers, and some of the Navy aviator personnel from the Ford were assigned to an Air Force base. The purpose was for them to learn the similarities and differences between the three variants of the newest fighter jet: the F-35 Lightning, there are three variants of the F-35. The first is the F-35A, this is the original version of the F-35, it is designed for conventional take-off and landing (CTOL) and is operated by the Air Force. The second is the F-35B, this variant is operated by the Marine Corps and it is the variant with the most differences, the F-35B is designed for short-take off and vertical landing (STVOL), it has a second engine mounted vertically behind the cockpit allowing the jet to take off from a much shorter runway and allowing it to land without the need of any kind of runway as it can hover in mid-air; this new design allows fighters to be carried and launched from amphibious assault ships for the first time as their deck is too short to allow for most jets to takeoff or land; the F-35B also has a 30% smaller fuel tank than the other variants as the extra engine requires more space. The third variant is the F-35C used by the Navy and is modified to allow for carrier landing and take-off, the F-35C features foldable wing tips, reinforced landing gear and a tail hook for carrier landing.