State Officials ask U.S. Navy to name ship USS Chattanooga

Washington, D.C. (WDEF) – In a letter today to Secretary of the U.S. Navy Ray Mabus, U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and U.S. Representatives Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) and Tom Graves (R-Ga.) asked the U.S. Navy to give “all due consideration to honoring the five servicemembers killed in Chattanooga, Tennessee on July 16, 2015 by naming an appropriate naval vessel the USS Chattanooga.”

The Chattanooga City Council and the Tennessee General Assembly passed separate resolutions supporting naming the next eligible U.S. Navy ship in honor of the five servicemembers who lost their lives during the July 16 terrorist attacks.

On that day in 2015, a lone terrorist attacked both a United States Military Recruiting Station and a Navy and Marine Corps Operational Support Center, ultimately claiming the lives of Gunnery Sgt. Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt, Sgt. Carson Holmquist, Lance Cpl. Squire “Skip” Wells, and Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Randall Smith.

The five servicemembers were awarded the Purple Heart on December 16, 2015 because the attacker was found to be inspired by propaganda from a foreign terrorist organization.

Stay with News 12 Now for more on this story as it develops.