On 20 December 1941, the Auxiliary Vessels Board officially recorded President Franklin D. Roosevelt's approval of "Normandie"'s transfer to the U.S. Navy. Plans called for the vessel to be turned into a troopship ("convoy unit loaded transport"). The Navy renamed her USS "Lafayette", in honor of both Marquis de la Fayette, the French general who fought on the Colonies' behalf in the American Revolution, and the alliance with France that made American independence possible. The name was a suggestion of J. P. "Jim" Warburg, advisory assistant to Colonel William J. Donovan, Coordinator of Information, which was passed through multiple channels including Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox; Admiral Harold R. Stark, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO); and Rear Adm. Randall Jacobs, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation. The name "La Fayette" (later universally and unofficially contracted to "Lafayette") was officially approved by the Secretary of the Navy on 31 December 1941, with the vessel classified as a transport, AP-53.