Navy to christen newest replenishment ship - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Navy to christen newest replenishment ship

SAN DIEGO — The Navy's newest replenishment ship will slide into the water and join the fleet at a Sunday afternoon ceremony here, officials said.

Navy officials, led by the U.S. Third Fleet commander, Vice Adm. Richard Hunt, will christen and launch the Matthew Perry, the ninth in the Lewis-and-Clark class of 14 combat logistics force ships that will sail the seas to deliver food, ammunition, fuel and supplies to deployed ships.

A crew of 124 civil service mariners and 11 sailors will operate the 689-foot-long, 42,000-ton ship, named for Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry, who helped open major trade lanes when he led a force of ships across the seas to Japan in 1853.

Perry will join the Military Sealift Command's naval fleet auxiliary force, which includes eight other members of the T-AKE class of dry cargo and ammunition ships, all named to honor famous explorers and pioneers: Lewis and Clark, Sacagawea, Alan Shepard, Richard E. Byrd, Amelia Earhart, Carl Brashear and Wally Schirra.

The ship’s ceremony is set for 5 p.m. at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, the Navy announced in a press release. One of Perry's descendants, Hester Evans, will break a bottle of champagne across the bow to mark the formal christening.