Commissioned in 1995, the Paul Hamilton honors Paul Hamilton, who served as Secretary of the Navy under President Madison from 1809 to 1812 and oversaw the Navy at the outbreak of the War of 1812. Though the Navy's material condition was tested in the opening months of the war, the officers Hamilton had commissioned—Decatur, Hull, Lawrence, and others—delivered a series of single-ship victories that stunned the world. The Paul Hamilton serves the Pacific Fleet.