Public Invited to Navy Ship Ceremony

Friday, 11 November 2011
Contact: Barbara Moreno (619) 686-6216

The public is invited to attend a christening ceremony this weekend for the Navy's newest resupply ship that will be named for a slain civil rights leader.

The USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE 13) will be christened at General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard, 2798 East Harbor Drive, on Saturday, November 12, beginning at 9 a.m. The event is free and open to the public. Gates at 28th Street and East Harbor Drive open at 8 a.m.

The ceremony will take place, rain or shine.

The 689-foot long ship is named after civil rights leader and World War II veteran, Medgar Evers of Mississippi, an NAACP official who was assassinated in 1963. His widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams is the ship's sponsor and will attend the ceremony. She will name the ship by breaking the traditional bottle of champagne against its hull.

Other dignitaries scheduled to speak including Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Fred Harris, president of General Dynamics NASSCO.

The T-AKE dry-cargo ammunition ships are designed to provide supplies to carriers and other Navy ships at sea.

When the Medgar Evers joins the fleet in 2012, its primary mission will be to deliver more than 10,000 tons of food, ammunition, fuel and other provisions to combat ships on the move at sea.

General Dynamics NASSCO is a Port District tenant that employs more than 3,300 people. It is the only major ship construction yard on the West Coast of the United States.

In addition to T-AKE construction, the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard is also building the first of three Mobile Landing Platform ships for the U.S. Navy.

The Port of San Diego is one of 17 strategic ports designated by the Maritime Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation. That means the port plays a role in the military's logistics and must coordinate and work with the military when needed

The Port of San Diego was created by the state legislature in 1962 and is responsible for $1.7 billion in public improvements in its five member cities: Imperial Beach, San Diego, Coronado, Chula Vista and National City.

The Port oversees two maritime cargo terminals, two cruise ship terminals, 17 public parks, the Harbor Police Department and the leases of more than 600 tenant and sub tenant businesses around San Diego Bay.