Congress asks Navy to name a ship after Revolutionary War battle
S. 5655 — A bill to express the sense of Congress that the Secretary of the Navy should name an appropriate United States Navy ship in honor of the Battle of Cowpens, which took place on January 17, 1781, and for other purposes. · Filed by Darline Graham Nordone (R-SC) · Introduced Sep 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill expresses Congress's view that the Navy should name a future ship after the Battle of Cowpens, a pivotal 1781 Revolutionary War battle in South Carolina. The bill documents the history of two prior USS Cowpens vessels (a WWII aircraft carrier and a 2024-decommissioned guided-missile cruiser, both nicknamed 'the Mighty Moo') and calls for the Navy to continue that naming tradition with a new ship.
Why we flagged it
This is a non-binding sense-of-Congress resolution requesting the Navy honor a historical battle through ship naming. It carries no legal force, appropriation, or regulatory change—purely a statement of congressional preference.
Who it affects
This is a non-binding resolution expressing a preference, not a law. It carries no civic cost or benefit to ordinary people—the Navy is free to follow or ignore it. The historical commemoration itself is culturally neutral; naming a ship after a Revolutionary War battle does not restrict rights, impose costs, or alter public protections.
Named in the bill
U.S. Navy, Secretary of the Navy, Battle of Cowpens, USS Cowpens (CVL-25), USS Cowpens (CG-63), National Park Service, South Carolina
Where it stands
- Sep 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 30, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Armed Services · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,852 characters) on Oct 13, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress asks Navy to name a ship after Revolutionary War battle” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5655 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.