List of U.S. military vessels named after living Americans

thumb|Former president George H. W. Bush views a model of , the aircraft carrier named after him.

The naming of United States Navy vessels after living people was common in the earliest years of American history, but as the 20th century began, the Navy had firmly established a practice of naming ships for people only after they had died. In 1969, a Navy panel formally decreed that warships would no longer be named after living persons.

No ships were named for living former Navy secretaries until 2001; since then, every Navy secretary save one has named a warship for a living predecessor, accounting for more than one-quarter of the ships they named for living people.

No one has named more U.S. ships for living people than Ray Mabus, who did so eight times during his service as secretary from 2009 to 2017. "I think it's...important, when we can, to honor people who are still with us and thank them for what they did," Mabus said in 2016.

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.

List of ships

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

thumb|right|100px|George Washington

George Washington had several vessels named after him before he died in 1799, including at least four in the 1770s and one in 1798. (See also ).
USS Washington (1775) was a schooner named Endeavor acquired by Gen. Washington in October 1775, renamed Washington, and re-rigged as a brigantine.
was a row galley that operated in Narragansett Bay during the winter and spring of 1776.
was one of 13 frigates authorized by the Continental Congress. She was launched in August 1776.
, a lateen-rigged two-masted galley, was built in the autumn of 1776.
was commissioned in 1798.
John Hancock's name was given to two vessels before he died in October 1793. (See also ).
was the former schooner Speedwell, hired in October 1775.
was a sailing frigate of the American Revolutionary War, commissioned in 1776.
was a 6-gun schooner, fitted out in 1775; Benjamin Franklin died in 1790. (See also )
was commissioned in 1776; Martha Washington died in 1802.
was commissioned in 1778; Silas Deane died in 1789.

1790s

Two ships were named for John Adams while he was serving as America's second president:
, a 28-gun frigate, was launched in New York on June 8, 1799.
, a 24-gun frigate, was launched in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 5, 1799.

1800s

right|thumb|100px|James Madison

was commissioned in 1807, the first of three ships named for James Madison before he died on June 28, 1836.

1810s

was launched in 1814; Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826.

1820s

was a 14-gun schooner launched in 1812.

1830s

was a Van Buren-class schooner, designed by Edward Preble and built in 1832.
was commissioned in 1839; Martin Van Buren died in July 1862. (See also )

1850s

, commissioned by the US Revenue Cutter Service in 1857, transferred to the U.S. Navy in 1861, named for Harriet Lane, niece and First Lady of bachelor President James Buchanan. Lane died in 1903.

1900s

was commissioned in 1900; John Philip Holland, pioneer of submarine design, died August 1914.

1970s

was named in 1974; Carl Vinson, former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, died in 1981, before the ship was commissioned.

1980s

was named in 1983; retired Admiral Hyman Rickover, known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy", died in 1986.
was named in 1988;

2010s

USNS John Glenn (T-ESD-2) was named on January 4, 2012,
was named on May 7, 2012, for Thomas Hudner, retired Naval officer and recipient of the Medal of Honor. Hudner died on November 13, 2017.
was named on May 23, 2012, for Paul Robert Ignatius, former Secretary of the Navy and commissioned July 27, 2019. Ignatius died on November 6, 2025 just shy of his 105th birthday and over six years after the ship's commissioning.
was named on January 6, 2016,
USS John L. Canley (ESB-6) was named on November 10, 2020,
USS John H. Dalton (SSN-808) will be named for John H. Dalton, a former Secretary of the Navy, as announced by Del Toro on March 1, 2023.
USS William J. Clinton (CVN-82) and USS George W. Bush (CVN-83) will be named for former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as announced by President Joe Biden on January 13, 2025.
USS Ray Mabus (DDG-147), USS Kyle Carpenter (DDG-148), and USS Everett Alvarez, Jr (FFG-68) were all announced by Del Toro on January 15, 2025. Mabus is a former Navy officer who served as Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2017. Carpenter is a former Marine Lance Corporal and Medal of Honor recipient. Alvarez is a former Navy officer and pilot who spent nine-years in captivity as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.