WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today praised the announcement that Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer intends to name a future guided-missile destroyer after the late U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.).

“This is a fitting tribute to Senator Cochran, who was a giant in the United States Senate and one of the greatest champions Mississippi has ever known. As a U.S. Navy veteran and longtime leader in Congress, he worked to make our nation’s military stronger. I was proud to work alongside him in the Senate to provide our troops with the tools they need to keep America safe. When future Mississippians see the USS Thad Cochran, they can be proud of this statesman and the work he did for our state and nation.”

Cochran represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate from 1978 to 2018. As chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he was an effective advocate for Mississippi’s shipbuilding industry.

Cochran co-sponsored Wicker’s “Securing the Homeland by Increasing our Power on the Seas (SHIPS) Act” in 2017. Wicker’s legislation, which was signed into law in December 2017, made it the official policy of the United States to achieve the Navy’s minimum requirement of a 355-ship fleet. Wicker and Cochran worked to appropriate additional funds for ships to help meet this goal.