The White House announced Monday that the Navy will name the two latest Ford-class aircraft carriers after former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The future USS William J. Clinton and the future USS George W. Bush will become the fifth and sixth ships of the Ford class — the class of ships that is slated to eventually replace the venerable Nimitz-class carriers that are in operation today.

“When I personally delivered the news to Bill and George, they were deeply humbled,” Biden said in the statement released by the White House.

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the Pentagon was “honored” by the choice of names.

“These two future carriers are named after historically significant commanders in chief who served our country with determination and dedication,” Austin said in a statement released shortly after the White House made the announcement.

While the White House publicized the decision, the responsibility and authority to name ships lies squarely in the hands of the Navy secretary.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has spent the last several weeks making a spate of ship naming announcements that ranged from a Navy destroyer honoring Bob Kerrey, a former Navy SEAL and U.S. senator, to an amphibious transport dock ship for Silver Star recipient Lt. Travis Manion.

On Monday, Del Toro also named three future Virginia-class submarines after the Potomac River; the city of Norfolk, Virginia; and the New York City borough of Brooklyn, as well as a Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine after the city of Groton, Connecticut.

Only the lead ship of the class of aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has actually been built and is serving in the Navy.

The next two carriers in the class — the future USS John F. Kennedy and the USS Enterprise — are under construction. The USS Doris Miller, the fourth planned Ford-class carrier named after an enlisted sailor in World War II, is scheduled to begin construction next year.

Modern U.S. Navy aircraft carriers have typically been named after U.S. presidents, though there have been a few notable exceptions — the USS Enterprise, USS Nimitz and the USS John C. Stennis.

The Navy decided to carry that tradition over to the new Ford class of ships but has also kept up the tradition of occasionally breaking the naming convention.

The future USS Enterprise was named in honor of her predecessor — the Navy’s first nuclear aircraft carrier — but when commissioned, she will also be the ninth U.S. Navy vessel and third aircraft carrier to bear the name.

The future USS Doris Miller honors Messman Second Class Doris Miller, who not only behaved heroically during the attack on Pearl Harbor but would become the first Black recipient of the Navy Cross and a nominee for the Medal of Honor. Miller was killed in action in 1943.

In his statement on the naming, Del Toro noted President Bush’s role in rallying the nation after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and President Clinton’s role in forging the historic Oslo Accords that established a framework of peace between Israel and Palestine and the Good Friday Agreement that put an end to the violence in Northern Ireland.

Del Toro’s statement said that, during a private ceremony at the White House on Jan. 3, he announced that the sponsor for the future USS William J. Clinton will be Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea Clinton.

“She will represent a lifelong relationship with the ship and crew,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, in the Navy’s statement, former President Bush said that he was “honored that my name will be associated with the United States Navy and a symbol of our nation’s might.”

Bush’s father, President George H. W. Bush, has a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier named after him.

“I have a special admiration for the men and women of our Navy — including my dad — and ask God to watch over this ship and those who sail aboard her,” he added.

Del Toro did not announce a sponsor for the future USS George W. Bush.

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