US Navy to Name Ship After Late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy

September 20, 2016 Leave a Comment

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy holds his first news conference since taking office, April 6, 1961, in Washington, speaking to reporters and calling for powerful new weapons to combat organized crime and racketeering. (AP Photo/John Rous)

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy during his first news conference after taking office, April 6, 1961, in Washington (AP Photo/John Rous)

BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Navy is naming a ship after Robert F. Kennedy.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus is officially announcing the name Tuesday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Members of the Kennedy family are expected to attend the ceremony.

The Robert F. Kennedy’s job will be to restock and refuel ships already at sea.

Ships in the class are being named in honor of civil and human rights heroes, and Mabus says the class would be incomplete without Kennedy’s name.

Kennedy served as U.S. attorney general from 1961 to 1964 and as a U.S. senator from New York from 1965 to 1968. He was assassinated in 1968.

Mabus chooses ship names to help connect people with the Navy and Marine Corps.

Construction is expected to begin in 2021.

Filed Under: Articles, Local News, NewsCenter

About CapeCod.com NewsCenter

The award-winning CapeCod.com NewsCenter provides the Cape Cod community with a constant, credible source for local news. We are on the job seven days a week.