List of U.S. military vessels named after living Americans
The naming of United States Navy vessels after living people was common in early decades of American history, but by World War II, the Navy had firmly established a practice of naming ships for people only after they had died. In 1969, a Navy panel decreed that warships would no longer be named after living persons. That lasted until 1974, when President Richard Nixon announced the naming of an aircraft carrier after United States RepresentativeCarl Vinson. Since then, ships such as the,,,,, and have been named for people still alive at the time. The U.S. Navy generally announces the name of a ship some time before it is launched, and well before it is accepted for purchase and commissioned into active service.
The following ships received their names while their namesakes were alive. The list includes several ships whose namesakes died before the ships were commissioned.
1770s
George Washington had several vessels named after him before he died in 1799, including at least four in the 1770s and one in 1798..
*USS Washington was a schooner named Endeavor acquired by Gen. Washington in October 1775, renamed Washington, and re-rigged as a brigantine.
was named in 1980; Carl Vinson, former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, died in 1981, before the ship was commissioned.
was named in 1983; Retired Admiral Hyman Rickover, known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy", died in 1986.
was named in 1989; Retired Admiral Arleigh Burke, former 3-term Chief of Naval Operations, died in 1996. Burke spoke at the ship's commissioning on July 4, 1991.
was named in October 2006; Gerald R. Ford, former President and carrier officer, died in December 2006, before the ship was commissioned.
was named on 15 December 2001 in honor of the Mustin family who has devoted over a century of U.S. Naval service. Vice Admiral Henry C. Mustin died in April 2016, 13 years after the ship was commissioned, and LCDR Thomas M. Mustin remains living in Coronado, CA.
was named on November 27, 2006, for retired Rear Admiral Wayne E. Meyer, acclaimed as the father of the Aegis combat system. Meyer died in September 2009 a few weeks before the ship was commissioned.
was named on January 8, 2009, five days after John Warner, former Navy petty officer, former Marine Corps officer, former Secretary of the Navy, and former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, retired from the U.S. Senate.
was named on May 23, 2012, for Paul Robert Ignatius, former Secretary of the Navy.
will be named for Carl M. Levin, a former United States Senator from Michigan and Chairman of the SenateArmed Services Committee. The contract for the ship, along with the name, was first announced in a press release from General Dynamics, parent company of Bath Iron Works, on March 31, 2016.
will be named for Harvey C. Barnum, Jr., a retired Marine Corps officer and recipient of the Medal of Honor.
