The Navy intends to name a ship after the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, continuing a recent tradition of christening vessels after famous liberal icons, officials announced Thursday.
The vessel has not yet been built, but it will be a John Lewis-class replenishment oiler ship, tasked with carrying fuel to the Navy’s operating carrier strike groups, Navy officials said.
“As we close out women’s history month, it is my absolute honor to name the next T-AO after the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said. “She is a historic figure who vigorously advocated for women’s rights and gender equality.”
“It is my aim to ensure equality and eliminate gender discrimination across the Department of the Navy,” Del Toro continued. “She is instrumental to why we now have women of all backgrounds, experiences, and talents serving within our ranks, side by side with their male Sailor and Marine counterparts.”
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The class and lead ship, T-AO 205, is named in honor of Rep. John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat who died in 2020. Ships in this class are named after deceased liberal icons, including openly gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, Robert F. Kennedy, and two of Ginsburg’s fellow former Supreme Court justices, Earl Warren and Thurgood Marshall. Two other ships in the class are named for abolitionists Lucy Stone and Sojourner Truth.
The Navy is naming a ship after RBG.
If they do this right, it’ll be a small ship that has devastating firepower and accuracy.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) April 1, 2022
Oiler ships like the one that will be named for Ginsburg are 742 feet long, can carry 162,000 barrels of oil, and sail at a speed of 20 knots, according to the Navy.
Ginsburg, who battled multiple forms of cancer later in life, died at 87 of pancreatic cancer. Then-President Donald Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ginsburg, and Barrett was confirmed in late 2020, with no support from Democrats.
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Ginsburg was the second woman to join the Supreme Court, following Sandra Day O’Connor, who was nominated by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Long considered a champion of women’s rights, Ginsburg was beloved by liberals, who popularized her white lace “dissent collar” and saw her as a fitness guru for elderly people.
