USS Thomas S. Gates (CG-51) was a flight-I Ticonderoga-class cruiser that was used by the United States Navy. The warship was named after Thomas S. Gates, Secretary of Defense in the last years of the Eisenhower Administration (1959–1961). In a break from normal naming conventions for the Ticonderoga class cruisers, Thomas S. Gates is the only vessel of the class to be named after a person; all of the other cruisers are named after notable events in American military history.