With unexpected drama, a massive new Navy fuel ship was launched into San Diego Bay Saturday bearing the name of Robert F. Kennedy, the slain U.S. Senator whose support of key civil rights laws helped transform American society.
The oiler, which cost upwards of $700 million, was supposed to slide down the ways at General Dynamics-NASSCO as soon as Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the senator’s eldest daughter, cracked a bottle of bubbly against the bow.
She swung on queue. But the ship — nearly as long at 2.5 football fields — didn’t budge. Townsend and former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed against hull, and Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro leaned in. But 90 seconds passed before the USNS Robert F. Kennedy took to water.
At the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard on Saturday, October 28, 2023, in San Diego, CA, the USNS Robert F. Kennedy is christened by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. The USNS Robert F. Kennedy is a 742-foot Navy oiler ship named in honor of Robert F. Kennedy.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
A cheer went up among the 400 spectators, who had been reminded by speakers of Kennedy’s efforts to help pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.
“He was the only person in the White House who pushed President Kennedy (his brother) to call civil rights a moral issue,” Townsend said, referring to when her father served as the president’s Attorney General.
Saturday’s successful launch also was a relief for the Navy, which needs new oilers to serve carrier strike groups like the two that are now in the eastern Mediterranean, pressuring Iran and Hezbollah to stay of the war between Israel and Hamas.
“He served in our Navy during World War II, alongside his brothers, during which our Navy and Marine Corps played a critical role in liberating millions around the world from oppressive regimes — regimes that we see again today,” Del Toro said.
The 742-foot USNS Robert F. Kennedy was launched into San Diego Bay Saturday from General Dynamics-NASSCO. (Gary Robbins / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Kennedy’s brother John led a PT boat in the South Pacific and his brother Joseph Jr. piloted a plane in Europe, where he was killed in action. A third brother, Edward, was in the Army in the 1950s.
They were part of one of the most powerful political dynasties in the country’s history and enjoyed a lot of support in California.
Robert — known to many as Bobby — made a frenzied run for president in 1968. His campaign took him to San Diego’s El Cortez Hotel on June 3, for a big bash the night before the election. The next day, he won the primary. But early on June 5, Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian-born Jordanian citizen. He died the next day.
Sirhan said he was angry at Kennedy because of the senator’s support of Israel during the Arab-Israeli war in 1967. He was convicted and is currently incarcerated at R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
Saturday’s festivities focused more on civil rights, which was appropriate for the setting. The new oiler is the latest in a class of ships that are named after civil rights legends, including the late Congressman John Lewis, who helped push through the Civil Rights Act, slain San Francisco gay rights leader Harvey Milk, and Sojourner Truth, a Civil War era abolitionist and women’s rights advocate.
Townsend pointed to how her father helped President Kennedy force the desegregation of the University of Mississippi against great opposition.
Years later, Robert Kennedy visited the campus, with tempers still hot.
“They invited him to speak at the law school and all hell broke loose,” said Townsend, one of 15 Kennedy family members at Saturday’s launch.
“The paper said he should be disinvited, that he was a traitor, that the wrong Kennedy had been shot.’’
Kennedy ended up getting ovations from the large crowds that turned out.
Townsend said her father’s diplomatic style made the difference, and found troubling parallels to what is happening today in the U.S.
“People who go soft on someone who offends, finds common ground with others where there appears to be none, uses laughter instead of yelling …,” she said.
“Today we can hardly imagine speaking to places where we are not welcome or welcoming people with whom we disagree.
“My father’s visit to Ole Miss demonstrated the qualities that he learned in the Navy — courage, patriotism, service. Those qualities fuel the same qualities in others. The people who invited him and the people who showed up listened and applauded.”
