Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced that a future Constellation-class Guided Missile Frigate (FFG 66) will be named USS Hamilton. Secretary Del Toro made the announcement, May 23, while joining New York Mayor Eric Adams at Gracie Mansion for the New York City Mayor’s Fleet Week Welcome Breakfast.
The future USS Hamilton honors Secretary of the Treasury and Founder of the U. S. Coast Guard Alexander Hamilton and the crews of previous Navy vessels to bear the name.
“Secretary Hamilton was a fierce advocate for our Nation to establish a Navy. He understood that we, as a maritime nation, needed to establish ourselves from the outset as a maritime power, both commercial and naval,” said Secretary Del Toro. “USS Hamilton, once constructed, will sail around the world, representing the freedom and ideals its namesake spent his life advocating for.”
During the Revolutionary War, Hamilton served for four years as an aide-de-camp for General George Washington and later, in 1781, commanded a light infantry battalion at the battle of Yorktown. He subsequently contributed significantly to the adoption of the United States Constitution by serving as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, drafting a large portion of the Federalist Papers, and providing pivotal support for New York’s adoption of the proposed document.
As President Washington’s first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the architect of policies that greatly strengthened the country’s credit and economy. He consistently advocated for a strong Navy, and encouraged the development of dock yards, naval arsenals, and shore facilities. To counter the large number of smugglers who were undercutting the new nation’s finances by evading import taxes, Secretary Hamilton in 1790 spurred the establishment of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service—forerunner of today’s United States Coast Guard. Ships previously named in honor of Alexander Hamilton have served in the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and Revenue Cutter Service.
USS Hamilton, the fifth of the new Constellation-class frigates, was appropriated in 2024. The other ships in the class are USS Constellation (FFG 62), USS Congress (FFG 63), USS Chesapeake (FFG 64), and USS Lafayette (FFG 65), which Secretary Del Toro named last year in France.
The Constellation-class guided-missile frigate represents the Navy’s next generation small surface combatant. This ship class will be an agile, multi-mission warship, capable of operations in both blue-water and littoral environments, providing increased combat-credible forward presence that provides a military advantage at sea.
The Constellation-class will have multi-mission capability to conduct air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare, and information operations.