USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE-14)

USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE-14), a Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship, will be the first ship operated by the United States Navy to be named for Cesar Chavez (1927–93), labor leader and civil rights activist. Mr. Chávez joined the Navy at the age of seventeen in 1944 during World War II, and served for two years. Chávez had hoped that he would learn skills in the Navy that would help him later when he returned to civilian life, however he soon discovered that at the time Mexican-Americans in the Navy could only work as deckhands or painters.

Cesar Chavez keel was laid down on 9 May 2011 by the National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) in San Diego. The ship was launched on 5 May 2012.