Navy to Name Ship After First Black Deep-Sea Diver

The Navy will be naming a ship after Carl Brashear, the first African American to become a U.S. Navy Master Diver.

A new cargo ship will bear the name of the Navy's first black deep-sea diver.

Carl Brashear joined the Navy in 1948 when he was 17 years old. 1 of 6 children born to a sharecropper in Kentucky, he dreamed of becoming a Navy diver. No blacks were Navy divers at the time.

Brashear remained determined and made his way into the service, eventually retiring as a Master Chief Petty Officer in 1979.

He died at age 75 in 2006.

If you remember, Brashear was depicted by actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in the film "Men of Honor".