Here is some interesting background information on ships named after women.
USS HOPPER is named for Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, whose pioneering spirit in the field of computer technology led the Navy into the age of computers. During her career, she was know as the "Grand Lady of Software," "Amazing Grace" and "Grandma Cobol" after co-inventing COBOL (common business-oriented language). COBOL made it possible for computers to respond to words instead of just numbers, thus enabling computers to "talk to each other."
Rear Adm. Hopper retired from the Naval Reserve in January 1967, but was recalled to active duty in August 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson because of her much-needed expertise in applied computer science. Rear Adm. Hopper retired a second time in August 1986. She passed away on Jan. 1, 1992. This is the first time since World War II, and only the second time in Naval history, that a warship has been named for a woman from the Navy’s own ranks.
A list of other US ships named after women.
USS Queen of France (1777), a frigate in the Continental Navy named for Marie Antoinette.
USS Pocahontas (YT-266), a harbor tug commissioned in 1942 and named for Pocahontas.
Five transports commissioned in 1942:
USS Dorothea L. Dix (AP-67), named for Dorothea Dix
USS Elizabeth C. Stanton (AP-69), named for Elizabeth C. Stanton
USS Florence Nightingale (AP-70), named for Florence Nightingale
USS Lyon (AP-71), named for Mary Lyon
USS Susan B. Anthony (AP-72), named for Susan B. Anthony
USS Sacagawea (YT-326) (later designation of YTM-326), a harbor tug that served in Charleston harbor from 1942 to 1945.
USS Watseka (YT-387), a 1944 harbor tug named for a Potawatomi woman.
USS Higbee (DD-806), 1945 a Gearing-class destroyer named for Lenah S. Higbee, Superintendent of Navy Nurse Corps 1911–1922, Higbee served in Fast Carrier Force. She was the first ship laid down, christened, and commissioned for a woman who had served in the U.S. Navy, and the first to see combat so named.
USS Hopper (DDG-70), 1996. Built and commissioned at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer is named for RDML Grace Murray Hopper, a computer technology pioneer who led the Navy into the digital age.
USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) is explicitly named for both Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt
USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE-2) was announced in 2000. She is the second of a new class of replenishment ships.
USNS Mary Sears (T-AGS 65), an oceanographic survey ship, was launched in October 2000 and is still active as of 2007. She was named for Commander Mary Sears.
USNS Amelia Earhart (T-AKE-6) is a sister ship of Sacagawea and launched in 2008.