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The U.S. Navy will christen the USS Carl M. Levin Saturday

The family of late U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) will participate in a christening ceremony for the new Navy ship named in his honor on Saturday.
Bath Iron Works
The family of late U.S. Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) will participate in a christening ceremony for the new Navy ship named in his honor on Saturday.

Longtime U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin to get rare honor months after his death.

The United States Navy will christen a new guided-missile destroyer named for the late Michigan U.S. Senator Carl Levin this weekend.

Carl Levin spent many years chairing the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. Levin was 87 when he died in July.

On Saturday, Levin’s daughters Kate Levin Markel, Laura Levin and Erica Levin will serve as sponsors, smashing a champagne bottle on the ship’s hull in a ceremony at the Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Levin Markel says this may be the greatest honor ever given to her father

“He felt so humbled, to be acknowledged in this way for his work on behalf of all of our troops, and it brought him to tears to think about how having his name attached to their missions would keep him with them in spirit for many, many years to come,” Levin Markel said.

The USS Carl M. Levin is being built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine.
Bath Iron Works
The USS Carl M. Levin is being built at the Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Before he died, Levin got to see the ship with his family. Levin Markel describes the assembling crew and command as “exceptional,” adding that the ship’s motto “tenacious in the fight” perfectly captures her dad’s way of working.

She added that her dad was a peace-seeking person who understood the Navy’s important defensive purposes.

“We all hope that this ship never sees battle,” Levin Markel concluded, “but as dad would have said over his many years of service, if our members of the military are going to go into harm’s way and participate in conflict, they should have the best equipment possible.”

The christening of the USS Carl M. Levin can be viewed online at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

Scott Pohl is a general assignment news reporter and produces news features and interviews. He is also an alternate local host on NPR's "Morning Edition."
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