Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation set conditions so that these contributions do not simply increase the foundation's endowment, but effectively work as a matching contribution, doubling the foundation's annual giving. Bloomberg News noted, "Buffett's gift came with three conditions for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Bill or Melinda Gates must be alive and active in its administration; it must continue to qualify as a charity; and each year it must give away an amount equal to the previous year's Berkshire gift, plus an additional amount equal to 5 percent of net assets. Buffett gave the foundation two years to abide by the third requirement."
USS Thomas S. Gates put into Gibraltar on 10 October, she turned over with guided missile cruiser on 16 October before sailing to Bermuda, arriving there 25 October 1997. That same day, just after embarking crew relatives for a Tiger cruise home, the cruiser responded to a distress call, recovering two crewmen from the drifting sailboat "Glou Glou". "Thomas S. Gates" arrived home at Norfolk on 27 October 1997. On 25 September 1999, "Thomas S. Gates" responded to a call for assistance from the United States Coast Guard vessel , then in the process of conducting boarding operations of the suspect merchant vessel "Love".