USNS ''Cesar Chavez'' (T-AKE-14), a ''Lewis and Clark''-class dry cargo ship, is the first ship operated by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to be named for

Cesar Chavez Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged ...

(1927–1993), labor leader and civil rights activist. Chávez joined the Navy at the age of seventeen in 1944 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and served for two years. ''Cesar Chavez''s keel was laid down on 9 May 2011 by the

National Steel and Shipbuilding Company National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, commonly referred to as NASSCO, is an American shipbuilding company with three shipyards located in San Diego, Norfolk, Virginia, Norfolk and Mayport (Jacksonville), Mayport. It is a division of General Dy ...

(NASSCO) in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. The ship was launched on 5 May 2012.

Notes

External links

* * Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ships 2012 ships Cesar Chavez Vessels involved in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 {{US-mil-ship-stub