The Department of the Navy will be naming two warships after the late Sen. Thad Cochran and the late Sen. Richard G. Lugar, both of whom are Navy veterans.
Cochran entered the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1959, the Navy said Friday. After completing his service three years later, he joined the staff of the Commandant of the Eighth Naval District was later promoted to Lieutenant. He also served for 40 years as a senator for Mississippi from 1978 to 2018
Lugar served in the Navy for four years, from 1957 to 1960. He was also an intelligence briefer for the chief of naval operations and received the presidential medal of freedom in 2013. In addition, he served Indiana as a senator for 36 years from 1977 to 2013.
Arleigh Burke-class warships, capable of moving at speeds over 30 knots, are equipped with missile defense weapons systems and operate in peacetime as well as times of crisis.