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83k | On 21 November 2019 Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer announced two future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers will be named in honor of the late Sen. Richard G. Lugar and late Sen. Thad Cochran, both Navy veterans.
On 21 Novewmber 2019 Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer announced two future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers will be named in honor of the late Sen. Richard G. Lugar and late Sen. Thad Cochran, both Navy veterans. The Secretary of the Navy has sole authority to name Navy vessels. Guided-missile destroyers are currently named to honor members of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard; former secretaries and assistant secretaries of the Navy; and members of Congress closely identified with naval affairs.
Lugar served in the Navy 1957-1960 and represented Indiana in the Senate for 36 years. He died 28 April 2019. “Senator Lugar dedicated his life to his country, first through service in the U.S. Navy then through service in Congress,” Spencer said. “I am honored to name a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer after him. It is fitting this class of ship should bear Senator Lugar’s name, just as he served under Admiral Burke in life. This ship and her crew will continue his legacy of service, safeguarding the safety and security of America and her allies all over the world.”
Lugar attended Officer Candidate School in Rhode Island, with follow-on training in Florida, before serving as an intelligence briefer for Adm. Arleigh Burke, the chief of naval operations at the time.
As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Lugar was a co-creator of the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which provided funding and expertise to secure and dismantle nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and delivery systems around the world. In recent years, funding provided through the program has focused on export and border control programs and on the detection of radiological weapons. In 2013, Lugar was awarded the presidential medal of freedom.
Undated official photo via Wikipedia.
| Dave Wright |
