BOSTON — The U.S. Navy is naming a ship after Robert F. Kennedy.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced the name Tuesday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston. Members of the Kennedy family, including his widow, Ethel Kennedy, attended.
Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy, his grandson, said they’re “deeply grateful” for the honor.
The Robert F. Kennedy’s job will be to restock and refuel ships already at sea. Construction is expected to begin in 2021. Ethel Kennedy is the honorary sponsor and daughter Kathleen Kennedy Townsend is the sponsor, who will christen the vessel.
Ships in the class are being named in honor of civil and human rights heroes. Mabus said 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 an advocate for the poor and for racial minorities. He was assassinated in 1968 during his campaign for Democratic presidential nominee.