USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60) is an in the United States Navy currently in service. The ship is named after Paul Hamilton, the third United States Secretary of the Navy.
Constructed at Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Bath, Maine, Paul Hamilton was commissioned in Charleston, South Carolina. The destroyer was transferred to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii after her commissioning. She is currently homeported in San Diego, California.
In 2003 Paul Hamilton was deployed to the Persian Gulf, Where she participated in Operation Shock And Awe.
In 2009, She deployed once again to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
In July 2015, she along with the Royal Navy's, participated in airstrikes against ISIL.[1]
In 2019, cargo ship Bass Strait, belonging to Hong Kong–based Pacific Basin Shipping Limited, launched a series of drones that surveilled and harassed Paul Hamilton in waters off of Southern California.[2] [3]
In honor of the ship's namesake Paul Hamilton, a South Carolinian who was a Revolutionary War soldier and the 42nd governor of South Carolina, USS Paul Hamilton flies the Moultrie Flag, a Revolutionary War battle flag closely associated with South Carolina.[4]