JANUARY 23, 2023 – Fleet replenishment oiler USNS Earl Warren (T-AO 207), the Military Sealift Command’s newest ship, was christened during a ceremony at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, Calif., today.
The event was attended by the family of the ship’s namesake as well as Rep. Eric Swalwell, California’s 14th District; Rep. Sara Jacobs, California’s 51st District; Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy; Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, Commander, Naval Surface Forces and Commander, Naval Surface Force, U. S. Pacific Fleet; Vice Adm. Darse E. Crandall, Jr., Judge Advocate General of the Navy; Rear Adm. Michael Wettlaufer, Commander, Military Sealift Command; Rear Adm. Thomas J. Anderson, Program Executive Officer, Ships; Rear Adm. Larry D. Watkins, Deputy Commander, U. S. Third Fleet; Brig. Gen. Jason L. Morris, Commanding General, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego and Commanding General, Western Recruiting Region; Rear Adm. Bradley Rosen, Commander, Navy Region Southwest; as well as executives and employees of NASSCO San Diego.
The ship honors Earl Warren, an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969.
Warren writing the majority opinions in landmark civil rights cases such as Brown v. Board of Education, Reynolds v. Sims , Miranda v. Arizona and Loving v. Virginia. Warren also led the Warren Commission, a presidential commission that investigated the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In addition, Warren also served as Governor of California from 1943 to 1953, and is the last chief justice to have served in an elected office before nomination to the Supreme Court.
Warren is considered to be one of the most influential Supreme Court justices and political leaders in the history of the United States.
“How fitting that this ship, named for Chief Justice Earl Warren, is built here in California, the state of his birth and service as a three-time governor; and in this city, where his legacy lives on in UC San Diego’s Earl Warren College, dedicated to the importance of critical thinking and problem solving while cultivating ethnically responsible citizen scholars,” said Wettlaufer.
The 746 foot Warren is the first of the new John Lewis-class previously known as the TAO(X). This class of oilers has the ability to carry 162,000 barrels of diesel ship fuel, aviation fuel and dry stores cargo.
The upgraded oiler is built with double hulls to protect against oil spills and strengthened cargo and ballast tanks, and will be equipped with a basic self-defense capability, including crew served weapons, degaussing, and Nixie Torpedo decoys, and has space, weight, and power reservations for Close In Weapon Systems such as SeaRAMs, and an Anti-Torpedo Torpedo Defense System.
The Lewis-class of oilers will replace the current Kaiser Class fleet replenishment oilers and they age out of the MSC fleet.
“Very soon, USNS Earl Warren will be added the MSC fleet. Like her namesake, our nation is fortunate to have Americans step forward from all walks of life to serve,” said Wettlaufer. “Her Civil Service Mariner crew will operate this ship with the same skill, resolve, and courage displayed by Chief Justice Warren.”
“May this ship carry on in the spirit of its namesake,” said Toro. “May justice always prevail.”
Four more Lewis-class oilers are on order for the Navy. In July 2016, US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus that he would name the Lewis-class oilers after prominent civil rights activists and leaders including Harvey Milk, Earl Warren, Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone and Robert F. Kennedy.
“It is an honor and a pleasure captain this great ship with these capabilities and to serve with of this great crew,” said Capt. Daniel Glazier,” Warren’s civil service master. “This is truly one of the high points of my career.”
Story by Sarah Burford
Military Sealift Command Pacific