SAN DIEGO — Congratulations to my friend of 40 years Congressman John Lewis, who was at the keel-laying ceremony here for the first of 20 ships in a new Navy class — the John Lewis Class.
The first will be the USNS John Lewis, which will be ready to sail in 2020. They’re fleet replenishment oilers. The rest of the John Lewis fleet will be built over the next 10 years.
“John Lewis has dedicated his life to protecting human rights — protecting civil liberties and building what he calls the beloved community,” said President of General Dynamics NASSCO Kevin Graney.
“If someone would have told me when I was growing up in rural Alabama — during the height of the civil rights movement — that one day I would have a series of ships named after me I would have said, ‘you’re crazy,'” Lewis said.
The civil rights icon also was impressed with the ship-building crew:
“They’re black, they’re white, they’re Latino, they’re Asian American, they’re Native American — if people can come together and build a ship to travel the sea, why we can’t come together as a people?” Lewis asked.
Hope I get to sail on one.
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