Navy Warship To Be Named After Late Mississippi Senator

JACKSON, MS —The U.S. Navy has announced it will name one of its warships after the late Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran.

Incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith said Wednesday that a future guided missile destroyer will be called the USS Thad Cochran.

He was the senator for Mississippi from 1978 to 2018.

Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer, said the ship is being named after Cochran because he was a strong advocate for defense.

Spencer said: “From his service as a legal officer aboard the heavy cruiser USS Macon, to his dedicated work on behalf of our Sailors and Marines on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Thad Cochran was always a strong advocate for our nation’s defense and a courtly voice for cooperation and civility in American politics.”

Cochran, a Navy veteran himself, was also a longtime chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversaw federal spending.

According to the navy, the ship will be equipped with ‘offensive and defensive weapon systems to support maritime warfare, including integrated air and missile defense and vertical launch capabilities’.