Корабли ВМС США, названные в честь живых людей: история и современность.

USN watercraft christened after people not dead by commissioning

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.

The following ships received their names while their namesakes were alive. The list includes several ships whose namesakes died before the ships were commissioned.

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

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

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

Madison was a 14 gun schooner launched in 1812.

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

Harriet Lane, 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.

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

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

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