Editing USS Winston S. Churchill (section)

== Naming ==
[[File:Churchill portrait NYP 45063.jpg|upright|thumb|Sir Winston Churchill]]
On 29 November 1995, on a visit to the United Kingdom, President [[Bill Clinton]] announced to their [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] that the new ship would be named after Sir [[Winston Churchill]], a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She was the first destroyer and only the fourth [[United States Navy ships|U.S. Navy warship]] named after a [[British citizen]], and the first since 1976 named after a non-U.S. citizen (that being {{USS|Comte de Grasse}}), though Churchill was an [[Honorary Citizen of the United States|honorary U.S. citizen]] and [[Lady Randolph Churchill|his mother]] was American.

Other U.S. warships named after Britons were {{USS|Alfred|1774|2}}, an armed merchantman named after [[Alfred the Great|King Alfred the Great]]; {{USS|Raleigh|1776|2}}, a continental frigate, named after [[Walter Raleigh|Sir Walter Raleigh]] (though three [[USS Raleigh|later USS ''Raleigh''s]]—and two [[CSS Raleigh|Confederate warships]]—would be named after the [[Raleigh, North Carolina|North Carolina city]], which did not exist at the time); and {{USS|Effingham|1777|2}}, named after [[Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham|The 3rd Earl of Effingham]] who resigned his commission rather than fight the colonists during the [[American Revolutionary War]]. The former frigate {{USS|Harold E. Holt|FF-1074|2}} was also named after a person from a country in the Commonwealth of Nations, [[Harold Holt]], the Australian Prime Minister, who disappeared, (presumed drowned), while still in office just a year before ''Harold E. Holt'' was laid down. ''Winston S. Churchill'' is the first ship to be named after a British citizen or British Prime Minister of the modern era.

''Winston S. Churchill'' is the only U.S. Navy vessel to have a [[Royal Navy]] [[exchange officer]] permanently assigned to the ship's company (usually a Navigation Officer).<ref name="Kennedy 2001">{{cite web|url=http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2001/Apr/USS_Churchill.htm|title=USS Churchill Shows Off High-Tech Gear|access-date=15 April 2007|last=Kennedy |first=Harold|date=April 2001|work=National Defense|publisher=[[National Defense Industrial Association|NDIA]]|quote=She also is the only U.S. Navy ship to have a British [[Royal Navy]] officer permanently assigned as a member of the ship’s company. Lieutenant Angus Essenhigh, RN, of Portsmouth, England, is serving as ship’s navigator during his two-year tour of duty.
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200801/http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/issues/2001/Apr/USS_Churchill.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 27 September 2007}}</ref> The U.S. Navy had a permanent U.S. Navy Officer on the Royal Navy ship, {{HMS|Marlborough|F233|6}}, until her decommissioning on 8 July 2005. ''Winston S. Churchill'' is also the only U.S. Naval vessel to fly a foreign [[Ensign (flag)|ensign]]. Being named after a Briton, the Royal Navy's [[White Ensign]] is honorarily flown on special occasions from the ship's mast, on the port side, whereas the U.S. flag is flown from the starboard side. However, during normal operations, only the U.S. flag is flown on the center of the main mast.<ref>{{cite news | last =Stilwell | first =Blake | title = The Only US Navy Warship Authorized to Fly a Foreign Flag at Sea| newspaper =[[Military.com]] | location = | pages = | language = | publisher = | date =2023 | url = https://www.military.com/history/only-us-navy-warship-authorized-fly-foreign-flag-sea.html| accessdate =November 13, 2023}}</ref>