Updated

The military is christening a Navy logistics ship in honor of John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth.

The former Ohio senator was in San Diego on Saturday for the ceremony at General Dynamics' National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, along with his wife and daughter.

The 785-foot USNS John Glenn is a Mobile Landing Platform ship -- a new type of amphibious staging and assault vessel.

A statement from Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus calls the christening "a fitting tribute" to the man who in 1962 became the first American to orbit the Earth.

The statement notes Glenn's military ties. It says he enlisted in the Naval Reserve as a college student in 1942 and was a Marine pilot during World War II and the Korean War.