Stevens represented Alaska as one of the longest-serving U.S. senators in history, and is now being honored by the U.S. Navy with a namesake warship.
The USS Ted Stevens is a brand-new, state-of-the-art guided-missile destroyer, a missile-equipped ship that can conduct warfare at levels ranging from the air to the depths of the sea.
The ship is set to be commissioned in Whittier on Saturday, an event that is expected to draw 3,000 people to the tiny and quirky Prince William Sound town that is home to about 250 people.
Even though modern Whittier is a military legacy, established to support the World War II effort and defense of Alaska, the USS Ted Stevens is the first Navy warship to visit the town in 80 years, according to military officials…