Class leader
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In the United States Navy, the first ship built to a particular design is known as the class leader, and that design of ship is named after it. For example, the most modern design of Aegis-equipped guided missile destroyer started at DDG-51. The first ship of that design was named USS Arleigh Burke, and that lead to the class of ships being known as the Arleigh Burke class of destroyers. The name of a class changes if the name of the class leader is changed before commissioning, but once the class leader is commissioned, the name of the class is permanently set (for example, the Indiana class battleships remained the Indiana class even after USS Indiana was renamed Coast Battleship No. 1). There are exceptions, however; when the USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank in an accident, the Thresher class was renamed after the second ship of the class and became the Permit class. Because the class is named for the leader, the class leader is almost always the most well-known ship of a given class, unless another ship in the class becomes famous (such as the USS Cole (DDG-67), USS Enterprise (CV-6) or USS Vincennes (CG-49).
In the Royal Navy, classes are usually but not always named for the class leader. In some cases, the names of Royal Navy vessels within a class follow a particular theme, which is used as the class name. For example, the Town class cruisers of the late 1930s were named after cities within the United Kingdom.
In the fictional Star Trek universe, Starfleet uses class leaders as well. The first ship of a class determines the name of the class of ships. For example, the Enterprise from the original series belonged to the Constitution class, the first vessel of that class was USS Constitution, NCC-1700. In the TNG time, the Enterprise was a Galaxy class starship, the class leader is the USS Galaxy, NCC-70637. That ship was seen on Deep Space Nine when it participated in operations against the Dominion.