BALTIMORE, Md. (WWJ) - The United State Navy commissioned a brand new destroyer in Baltimore on Saturday morning -- and it's named for the longest serving senator in Michigan state history who was known for advocating on behalf of military servicemembers and their families, officials said.
The USS Carl M. Levin is a United States Navy Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer, the 70th overall for the class. The commissioning ceremony began at 10 a.m. at the Baltimore Harbor with roughly 5,000 guests in attendance, including Levin's family.
The ship's new crew, which includes seven servicemembers from Michigan, kicked off the ceremony.
“The USS Carl M. Levin’s motto is, ‘Tenacious in the Fight,’ which is also an apt description of Sen. Levin’s passion for public service,” said Jim Townsend, Director of the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State University Law School.
Levin has ties to the Detroit-based university after he graduated from Wayne Law in 1977. He also received an honorary degree from WSU in 2005.
“As a member, including Chair and Ranking Member, of the Senate Armed Services Committee for his 36 years in the Senate, Senator Levin was tenacious in advocating for an effective military and the support of military servicemembers and their families," Townsend continued. "He was able to do this so successfully by working across the aisle, leading with facts, and treating everyone with respect. How he would have loved to be present at the commissioning of the ship that bears his name.”
Levin served in the U.S. Senate for 36 years from 1979-2015. As the longest serving senator in Michigan state history, Levin was a fierce advocate of the armed services through his work and leadership with SASC.
Levin stated in his 2021 memoir, Getting to the Heart of the Matter: My Thirty-SixYears in the Senate, that he joined the SASC, “because I wanted to learn about the military, but I also wanted to make a contribution to our nation’s
security...I had a steep learning curve to climb, but climb it I did, with the help of a knowledgeable and highly competent SASC staff that operated largely in a nonpartisan manner and with the willingness of experienced colleagues and friends, like Sam Nunn and John Warner, to be helpful.”
Sen. John McCain once said on the Senate floor that “Carl might never have served in the military, but he has surely served the military well, and he has served the national interests our Armed Forces protect in an exemplary matter that the rest of us would be wise to emulate.”
When Sen. Levin retired, he came back to Detroit and taught at Wayne Law State School where he also established the Levin Center. As described by university officials, the center "promotes high quality oversight in Congress and the 50 state legislatures through oversight workshops, research, events, commentary, and other activities. He passed away in 2021."
Levin passed away on July 29, 2021.