After months of anticipation, the U.S. Navy’s newest ship named after the late farm labor and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez is ready to sail the seas.

On Saturday, the USNS Cesar Chavez, a dry cargo and ammunition ship, will be christened and launched during a ceremony at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego.

Chavez, who organized farm workers into a union with a membership at its peak of 50,000 strong, served in the Navy during World War II.

Jim Gill, spokesman for General Dynamics NASSCO, said about 7,000 people from across the country are expected to attend Saturday’s ceremony.

Gill said the Chavez family is attending the ceremony. He said Helen Chavez, the farm labor leader’s widow, will be christening the ship.

Saturday’s event is considered "one of the larger attended launches," Gill said.

The larger crowd is anticipated due to several reasons, he said, including the fact that it will be the last stern launching of a ship in North America for quite a while. This is when the back of the ship goes into the water first and by its own weight, Gill said.

"A lot of people want to see that because it’s quite dramatic to watch," he said.

Another reason to the bigger attendance, Gill said, is because of the namesake of the ship.

"There’s a great deal of community interest and pride in the name of the ship," he said. "People want to come and recognize that namesake and also honor the shipbuilders who put it together."

Gill said about 60 percent of the workforce was Hispanic.

The naming of the ship, however, caused some angst-irking conservatives in Congress who want to tighten controls over the ship naming tradition. A clause in the Dec. 12 congressional report accompanying the defense authorization bill called on the defense secretary to review the policy for naming vessels, which has been a centuries-old prerogative of the Navy secretary.

The 689-foot Chavez is designed to conduct underway replenishment of other Navy combat vessels.