U.S. Navy names two next-generation fleet replenishment oilers

The U.S. Navy on Monday named two next-generation fleet replenishment oilers as USNS Lucy Stone and USNS Sojourner Truth, whose construction will start five years later.

At a ceremony held at the Boston Public Library, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus made the announcement on naming the two ships after two renown U.S. women rights activists.

The ship T-AO 209 was named as USNS Lucy Stone in honor of Lucy Stone, who was a prominent 19th-century abolitionist, suffragist, and a vocal advocate for women' s rights.

Stone convened the first National Women's Rights Convention and assisted in establishing the Woman's National Loyal League to help pass the Thirteenth Amendment and abolish slavery.

She also helped form the American Woman Suffrage Association, an organization dedicated to winning women the right to vote.

The ship T-AO 210 was named USNS Sojourner Truth in honor of Sojourner Truth, an African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist.

Truth, born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in 1826. She was widely recognized as a great orator and advocate of civil rights and equality for all.

The two oilers, part of the John Lewis-class of ships, will be operated by the U.S. Military Sealift Command. They will provide underway replenishment of fuel and stores to U.S. Navy ships at sea and jet fuel for aircraft assigned to aircraft carriers, the Pentagon said.

Construction is expected to begin on the Lucy Stone in 2021 and on the Sojourner Truth in 2022, it added. Enditem