I was named to honor Captain William Gwin, who commanded riverboats for the Confederate forces in Alabama during the American Civil War. I'm sure Captain Gwin would have been very pleased to know about this honor, had he not been shot and killed during the Civil War. If you ask, "Who is this Captain William Gwin?" I should first tell you that he was promoted to the rank of colonel at the time of his death. At the beginning, I, too, did not know exactly who he was, but because his name was given to me, I thought he must be someone important and started to investigate to learn more about this officer. Don't take my "investigation" too seriously; of course, I did not leaf through history books or large encyclopedias like you would. I simply listened attentively whenever his name was mentioned in the conversations of my officers. By the way, I should confess something to you. At first, I found it quite odd that I was named after Colonel William Gwin. I kept asking myself, "With so many generals and admirals, why would they name me after a colonel?" Then, to put an end to my puzzlement, I told myself, "If they named me after him, this young officer must have been exceptionally talented and highly capable, a valuable officer who successfully completed many important missions." He must have been a young officer because he held the rank of colonel—during the American Civil War, it was possible for officers to attain this rank in their thirties, depending on the magnitude of their achievements. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to gather much information about Colonel William Gwin, whose future in the United States Navy seemed very promising. I believe this was because he died at a young age—he was only thirty-one when he was wounded and lost his life—limiting the number of his achievements. Nevertheless, this young officer must have accomplished significant feats worthy of having a ship named after him by the U.S. Navy. Perhaps even one of his successes was equivalent to the hundreds of successes of other officers.