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T-AKE 14 Cesar Chavez

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced 18 May 2011 the selection of the USNS Cesar Chavez as the 14th Lewis and Clark-class of dry cargo/ammunition ships. Continuing the Lewis and Clark-class tradition of honoring legendary pioneers and explorers, the Navy's newest underway replenishment ship honors the memory of Mexican-American civil rights activist Cesar Chavez. Chavez served in the Navy from 1944-1946 after which he became a leader in the American Labor Movement and a civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers.

"Cesar Chavez inspired young Americans to do what is right and what is necessary to protect our freedoms and our country," said Mabus. "The Cesar Chavez will sail hundreds of thousands of miles and will bring support and assistance to thousands upon thousands of people. His example will live on in this great ship."

Cesar Chavez born into a family of migrant workers, is revered for creating in 1965 the United Farm Workers union, the largest of any farm worker union. By launching a huge boycott against table grape growers, he forced them to agree to a union contract in 1970. In 1972, the UFW, with Chávez as president, became a member union of the AFL-CIO. He died in April 1993.

César volunteered to serve in the United States Navy. César, like many American men and women, served in the military to fight for freedom and to protect the people of the United States. After two years in the Navy, César returned home and married his girlfriend, Helen. After a short time, they moved to San Jose, California and began a family. Life changed for César when he met a man named Fred Ross. Fred Ross believed that if people worked together they could make their community better. Fred Ross hired César to work for him in the Community Service Organization.

César started the National Farm Worker Association to help improve the working conditions of farm workers. African Americans, Filipinos, white Americans, Mexican Americans and Mexicans, and men and women of all backgrounds joined César. César and the farm workers wanted the companies and growers that owned the farms to respect farm workers by providing them with fresh water to drink, bathrooms in the fields, and fair pay for a day’s work. The companies and growers refused to treat the farm workers with respect and dignity. The growers did everything they could to stop César and the farm workers. They even turned to violence and hurt many farm workers and people who helped the farm workers. After five years, some growers in California agreed with César and started to provide farm workers with fresh water to drink, bathrooms, and better pay. César, the farm workers, and their friends won, making farm worker’s lives better.

César died on April 23, 1993. He was sixty-six years old. People all over the world remember César E. Chávez as a man of courage who fought to improve the lives of all people.

Designated T-AKE 14, Cesar Chavez is being built by General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego. Eleven of the T-AKEs are slated to serve as combat logistics force (CLF) ships, and three are slated to be part of the maritime prepositioning force (MPF). Cesar Chavez will serve the CLF missions, helping the Navy maintain a worldwide forward presence by delivering ammunition, food, fuel and other dry cargo to U.S. and allied ships at sea.

"This proud ship will honor one American. But the story of my father's family is a lot like the story of so many other immigrants, especially Latinos," said Paul F. Chavez, son of the ship's namesake and president of Cesar Chavez Foundation. "They came to America seeking a better life. In so doing, they brought to their new land a fervent patriotism that has been demonstrated over and over again throughout the storied history of our nation. My dad was like many Latinos and African Americans from his generation who returned home in the years following World War II determined to see that the country for which they sacrificed lived up to its promise as a beacon to the nations of equality and freedom."

Cesar Chavez will be designated as a United States Naval Ship (USNS), and operated by the Navy's Military Sealift Command with a crew of civil service mariners (129 in CLF mode, 75 in MPF mode). For CLF missions, the T-AKEs' crews include a small detachment of sailors. Like her sister dry cargo/ammunition ships, T-AKE 14 is designed to operate independently for extended periods at sea and can carry two helicopters and their crews. The ship is 689 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 105 feet, displaces approximately 41,000 tons, and is capable of reaching a speed of 20 knots.