[The Pack Knight]

Of course, even the Continental Navy had a number of ships named after living, active politicians and generals. There was Trumbull, Montgomery, and General Gates, Deane, Franklin, at least four Washingtons and even a Lady Washington. Some of those cases were possibly due to the fact that many of those ships were privately funded by those same politicians.

They didn't seem to be very lucky names, though - the majority of those ships were captured or destroyed during the war. Of course, Continental Navy ships suffered a very high rate of attrition anyway, but maybe they learned their lesson - other than a number of ships named after Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, only a handful of post-Revolutionary US Navy ships were named for living Americans until the 1980s.

[The Pack Knight]

Oops, I forgot to mention the two Hancocks, which were even more likely to have been funded by Hancock himself, since he was long in the shipping and privateering business.

[The Pack Knight]

Oh, and one final postscript. Two ships named for Adams and one named for Madison were commissioned with those names while their respective namesakes were sitting Presidents.

So, as distasteful as the modern custom is, it doesn't seem as though the Founding Fathers were all that averse to it. Surprisingly, though, there were no ships named for George Washington commissioned during his Presidency.

[Iron Munro]

Thanks for the comments and excellent details.