Future Navy tanker named after civil rights and labor icon

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced Wednesday that a future John Lewis-class tanker (class T-AO 205) will be named after prominent labor and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, who was a major figure in the farm labor movement from the 1950s to the 1990s.

Del Toro's announcement of the naming of the future USNS Dolores Huerta (T-AO 214) came during a speech at the Veteran Affairs Center for Minority Veterans' Hispanic Heritage Month commemoration in Washington.

In his remarks, Del Toro – the first Cuban-American Secretary of the Navy – commented on his background as a refugee from Cuba and noted the history of Hispanic Americans' contributions to the U.S. military. He then added that service to the country can also take the form of “advocating for causes that improve the lives of other Americans” and announced the renaming of the future oil ship.

In 1962, Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, a forerunner of the United Farm Workers, with Cesar Chavez. She led several strikes and boycotts and coined the famous motto “Sí, se puede” (“Yes, we can”). She is the recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The USNS Dolores Huerta will be the 10th ship of the John Lewis class, and her naming is a continuation of the trend of naming John Lewis class tankers after civil rights leaders. Other ships following this convention include the USNS Thurgood Marshall, the USNS Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the USNS Harriet Tubman, and the lead ship USNS John Lewis.

According to the US Navy, the John Lewis-class tankers are intended to supply the US Navy's carrier battle groups and replace the aging Kaiser-class tankers. They can transport 162,000 barrels of oil.

The Navy's current plans call for the acquisition of a total of 20 such supply ships. However, experts doubt that the service will be able to fully staff these ships, as their crews consist mainly of civilian sailors who work as on-call employees and can quit at any time.