US Navy Ship Named after Nisqually Tribal Leader

Billy Frank Jr. Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55827198

The U.S. Navy has christened a Navajo-class towing, salvage, and rescue ship the USNS Billy Frank Jr., named after the Pacific Northwest Native American rights leader.

Frank Jr. was a Nisqually Tribal member, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and Chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission for over 30 years. He is most well-known for organizing civil disobedience protests around exercising Native fishing rights in the 1960’s, known as “fish-ins” during the “Fish Wars” in Washington state. His influence played a role in the 1974 court of appeals decision that reaffirmed that 20 treaty Tribes in Washington were entitled to fishing rights in the state.

Frank’s daughter-in-law officially christened the ship in March in Mobile, Alabama by breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow.

Currently all Navajo-class ships are named after Native American Tribes or Tribal leaders.

Navajo-class T-ATS ship design By United States Navy – https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Photo-Gallery?igphoto=2002346124, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92798263