Destroyer to be named for Cochran

JACKSON, Miss. - The Navy will name a ship after the late Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, who was a Navy veteran. Cochran’s successor, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, said Nov. 13 that Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer has decided that a future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer will be called the USS Thad Cochran. Cochran served six years in the House before winning a Senate seat in 1978. As longtime chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he oversaw federal spending. He was the 10th longest-serving senator in history when he resigned in April 2018. He was 81 when he died in May. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are currently built at shipyards in Pascagoula, Miss., and Bath, Maine. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a defense spending bill that recommends a $390M increase for materials for three new destroyers. “This is a fitting tribute to Senator Cochran, who was a giant in the United States Senate and one of the greatest champions Mississippi has ever known,” said Mississippi’s other U.S. senator, Roger Wicker. (Source: Stars & Stripes 11/13/19) https://www.stripes.com/news/us/navy-to-name-ship-after-the-late-sen-cochran-of-mississippi-1.607206 The Navy also agreed to name one of those new Arleigh Burke destroyers in honor of late U.S. Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, who died in April at the age of 87. He served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from between 2003-07, and ran for president in 1996. Lugar volunteered for the Navy and served from 1957-60, including as an intelligence briefer to then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Arleigh Burke.