As it frequently does, research on one thing took me down a deep rabbit hole elsewhere; in this case, into ship naming. For another piece I’m working on, I looked at President Donald Trump directing a new class of battleships (which apparently no one but him wants) to be named for him. It’s like he has no concept of history or tradition: first and foremost, that classes of ships are actually named after the first ship of the class. But to name a ship or a class after himself is… well… classless.

In the early days of the republic, it was actually fairly common to name US Navy vessels after living people.

There were at least fourteen US Navy ships named after the first president, George Washington (1732–99; he was president from 1789 to 1797), at least five of them while he was still alive (several, indeed, simultaneously):

• USS Washington (1775) was a schooner named Endeavor that was acquired by Gen. Washington in October 1775, renamed Washington, and re-rigged as a brigantine.
• USS Washington (1776) was a row galley that operated in Narragansett Bay during the winter and spring of 1776.
• USS Washington (1776) was one of 13 frigates authorized by the Continental Congress. She was launched in August 1776.
• USS Washington (1776), a lateen-rigged two-masted galley, was built in the autumn of 1776.
• USS George Washington (1798), a frigate, was commissioned in 1798.

The practice of naming ships after the living died out in the middle of the 1800s. The USS Harriet Lane was commissioned by the US Revenue Cutter Service in 1857 and transferred to the Navy in 1861. She was named for Harriet Lane (1830–1903), the niece and First Lady of bachelor President James Buchanan.

After that, the next naval ship to be named for a living person was the USS Holland (SS-1), the first submarine commissioned by the US Navy, in 1900. She was named for submarine designer John Philip Holland (1841–1914). But then, no more.

In 1969, a Navy panel made it official, formally decreeing that warships would no longer be named after living persons. That lasted until 1974, when President Richard Nixon announced that the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) would be named for Carl Vinson (1883–1981), who chaired the House Armed Services Committee from 1949 to 1953 and 1955 to 1965. The ship was commissioned nine months after he died, in March 1982.

Since then, however, it’s become more acceptable to name ships after a few living people. Specifically, former presidents, for whom the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers were named, with a few exceptions.

In 1994, the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) was named for the former president who died in June 2004, eleven months after the ship was commissioned in July 2003. Reagan served in the US Army from 1937 to 1945, serving only in the continental US, mostly in public relations.

In 1998, the Seawolf-class submarine USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) was named for the former president and submariner. Carter graduated from Annapolis in 1946, and served as an officer aboard several submarines. He left the Navy in 1953, after the death of his father, to take over the family business. Carter died in December 2024, 19 years after the ship was commissioned.

The USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) was named in December 2002 for the former president who served as a naval aviator during World War II. He flew 58 missions and completed 128 carrier landings. Bush died in November 2018, nine years after his ship was commissioned.

The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78)—the first Ford-class carrier—was named in October 2006. ; Ford served as an instructor and a carrier officer during World War II. He died in December 2006, eight years before the ship was commissioned.

On January 13, 2025, President Joe Biden announced that Ford-class carriers CVN-82 and CVN-83 will be named for former presidents William J. Clinton and George W. Bush, respectively. Bush served in the Texas Air National Guard, and is the last president to have served in the military.

Only 18 of the 58 ships named for US presidents were named for those who did not serve in the military, and the honor was only accorded to six presidents who did not so serve:

John Adams—seven ships. Most recently, ballistic missile submarine John Adams (SSBN-620) was named for both Presidents Adams was launched January 12, 1963, decommissioned in 1989, and scrapped in 1996.

Thomas Jefferson—five ships. Most recently, ballistic missile submarine USS Thomas Jefferson (SSBN-618) was commissioned in January 1963, decommissioned in 1985, and recycled between 1996 and 1998.

Martin Van Buren—one ship. A schooner-rigged revenue cutter entered service with Revenue Marine on December 2, 1839. She was transferred to the Navy for the Seminole War (1841–42), and also served against Mexico (1846). She was declared unseaworthy late in 1846, and sold June 1, 1847.

James Knox Polk—three ships. Most recently, ballistic missile submarine USS James K. Polk (SSBN-645) was commissioned in April 1966, decommissioned in July 1999 and recycled.

Woodrow Wilson—one ship. Ballistic missile submarine USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN-624) was christened in February 1963, decommissioned in 1994, and recycled between 1997 and 1998.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt—one ship. The USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVB-42) was a Midway-class aircraft carrier, commissioned on October 27, 1945, decommissioned on October 1, 1977. She was sold for scrapping on April 1, 1978.

Bill Clinton—planned CVN-82.

Presidents with ships named for them who did serve in the military include:

• George Washington: 14 ships, including the in-service aircraft carrier CVN-73.
• James Madison: 4 ships.
• James Monroe: 1 ship.
• Andrew Jackson: 3 ships.
• Abraham Lincoln: 3 ships, including the in-service aircraft carrier CVN-72.
• Ulysses Grant: 3 ships.
• Rutherford Hayes: 1 ship.
• Theodore Roosevelt: 2 ships, including the in-service aircraft carrier CVN-71.
• Harry Truman: 1 ship, the in-service aircraft carrier CVN-75.
• Dwight Eisenhower: 1 ship, the in-service aircraft carrier CVN-69.
• John Kennedy: 2 ships, the retired aircraft carrier CV-67 and CVN-79, which was christened in 2019, and is expected to be delivered to the Navy next year.
• Lyndon Johnson: 1 ship, the in-service destroyer DDG-1002.
• Gerald Ford: 1 ship, the in-service aircraft carrier CVN-78.
• Jimmy Carter: 1 ship, the in-service Seawolf-class submarine SSN-23.
• Ronald Reagan: 1 ship, the in-service aircraft carrier CVN-76.
• George H.W. Bush: 1 ship, the in-service aircraft carrier CVN-77.
• George W. Bush: the planned aircraft-carrier CVN-83.

(The picture is the USS Gerald R. Ford sailing alongside the USS Harry S. Truman.)