SAN DIEGO –  The widow of Medgar Evers broke a bottle of champagne against the hull of a new Navy ship that has been named in honor of the slain civil rights leader.

Myrlie Evers was among a thousand people who attended the christening of the USNS Medgar Evers in San Diego on Saturday. The 689-foot cargo ship will deliver food, ammunition, fuel and other provisions to Navy combat ships at sea.

Medgar Evers, a World War II veteran and field secretary for the NAACP, was shot to death in 1963.

Pictured: Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of African American activist Medgar Evers, christened the ship.