The Navy’s newest warship, the Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer USS Daniel Inouye, was officially commissioned at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Wednesday. After days of rain, the sun shown bright during the morning ceremony as the ship, named for the powerful Hawaii statesman, war hero and Medal of Honor recipient, joined the fleet.

Held a day after the 80th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the event that pulled America into World War II, the ceremony featured speakers who reflected on Inouye’s own story, from humble beginnings, to fighting the Nazis abroad and discrimination at home.

In telling the story of how the Inouye family came to the islands, Hawaii U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele said the family’s ancestry included a legendary samurai whose descendants fell on hard times. Daniel Inouye’s grandfather came here to work in a sugar plantation to pay off his family’s debt back in Japan. And maintaining the honor of the family name was important to Inouye throughout his life.

“Whether it was on the battlefield or in the United States Congress, Daniel K. Inouye was a true warrior who served his country with the samurai traits of courage, honor, integrity, grace,” Kahele said. “This legacy will live on through the brave men and women who will serve their country on this vessel.”

Gov. David Ige said that the commissioning of the ship in Inouye’s name celebrates “a life dedicated to strengthening national security, equality for all people and protecting American interests in the Indo-Pacific region.”

The USS Daniel Inouye is the eighth Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be based at Pearl Harbor as part of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet. It joins the fleet as the Pentagon is increasingly focusing its efforts on the region.

The Navy has kept busy in recent years as the military steps up operations in the Pacific amid tensions between China and neighboring countries over navigation, fishing and oil drilling rights in the waterways that link Asia’s growing economies to the global economy.

Daniel Inouye — as a Japanese American and World War II veteran — became an important figure in postwar U.S.-Japan reconciliation and in shaping U.S. policy in Asia more broadly. He spearheaded efforts, which, in 1994, resulted in Congress appropriating funds to create the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Waikiki. It aims to bring together military, civilian and academic leaders from across the region. After his death, the center was renamed in his honor.

Inouye also used his powerful position in the U.S. Senate to steer federal funding, particularly defense dollars, into Hawaii’s economy. Defense initiatives he pushed for are still coming to fruition and his influence on military planning in the Pacific is still felt nearly a decade after his death.

Several speakers at the ceremony reflected on Inouye’s friendship with former Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, who died Sunday. Inouye and the Kansan were often at odds politically when they served in the Senate, but they shared a bond as WWII soldiers who were both seriously wounded in battle during their service.

“Both of them understood, after having seen and in both of their cases suffered the horrors of war, they both understood that war is a destructive force,” Inouye’s son, Ken Inouye, told the crowd. “You have to be a creative force afterwards. And in order to be creative, you have to work together.”

Inouye served in the 442nd Infantry Regiment, a unit that was made up almost entirely of second generation Japanese Americans. At the outset of America’s entry into WWII, many Japanese Americans were regarded as spies and Inouye himself was initially deemed unfit for service. But Japanese Americans insisted on the right to serve in uniform.

“They believed in America when America did not believe in them,” Ken Inouye said.

His father eventually rose to be one of the most powerful men in American politics, but when he arrived at Capitol Hill, he faced racial discrimination. “When he first got in the House of Representatives, there was some question over what rooms he could go into at the Capitol, because there were certain rooms that were traditionally for whites only,” Ken Inouye said.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said that Daniel Inouye “will always serve as a North Star for our military and for me, personally. Like me, he was the child of immigrants.”

Del Toro said that Inouye’s story should be a lesson for military leaders today.

“Amid the hostility and the mistreatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, you’re lucky that Daniel Inouye still chose to serve,” Del Toro said. “We cannot fully realize the legacy of Daniel Inouye until all Americans feel welcome and valued in our nation’s military. We must recruit, retain, mentor, educate and promote the best of our nation. That includes all of the Daniel Inouyes that our country has to offer.”

The construction of the $1.5 billion USS Daniel Inouye began in 2018 and it was christened in a 2019 ceremony at the Bath Iron Works in Maine. That ceremony was attended by the senator’s late widow Irene Inouye, the ship’s sponsor. Before the voyage to Hawaii, the Inouye family Bible and other heirlooms gifted by the family were placed in a box aboard the 509-foot warship.

But it took longer than expected for the USS Daniel Inouye to reach Hawaii. It hit several production setbacks, including a pandemic-induced slowdown in shipbuilding operations across the nation and a nine-week strike by Bath Iron Works workers last summer. It finally arrived at its Pearl Harbor home port last month.

Daniel Inouye’s daughter-in-law, Jessica Inouye, and granddaughter, Maggie Inouye, took part in Wednesday’s ceremony, along with the late senator’s former chief of staff, Jennifer Sabas. The new ship’s commanding officer, Cmdr. DonAnn Gilmore, said that Irene Inouye had “shared her stories, her heart and showed immense kindness to our crew” and would “always be part of the ship.”

Gilmore said the Inouye family gave the crew “more than just a connection to our namesake, they’ve built us in an ohana and given us a sense of heritage and belonging and made Hawaii feel like a hometown for the crew of the Daniel Inouye.”