The next ship of the new generation of Navy tankers will be named USNS Robert F. Kennedy, with construction expected to begin in 2021 at General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego.
The ship, designed T-AO 208, is part of the John Lewis-class of ships named in honor of U.S. civil and human rights heroes, the Navy said Tuesday.
“This class of ships would be incomplete absent the name Robert F. Kennedy,” said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. “He was a Navy man, a U.S. attorney general, a senator, and a leader who committed, and ultimately sacrificed, his life to pursuing justice, equality and freedom.”
A ceremony marking the announcement was held at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.
Robert F. Kennedy, a U.S. Navy veteran, served as the U.S. attorney general from 1961 to 1964 and as a U.S. senator from New York from 1965 to 1968. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Virginia School of Law, Kennedy was appointed attorney general after his brother John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960.
In this role, Robert Kennedy fought organized crime and fought for civil rights for African Americans. He also served as a close advisor to the president.
As a senator, he was a committed advocate of the poor and racial minorities.
While in Los Angeles campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination in June 1968, Kennedy was shot and killed at age 42. Kennedy, the father of 11 children, is buried at Virginia’s Arlington National Cemetery.
The future USNS Robert F. Kennedy will be operated by Military Sealift Command and provide underway replenishment of fuel and stores to U.S. Navy ships at sea and jet fuel for aircraft assigned to aircraft carriers.