WASHINGTON — Sen. Susan Collins is asking the U.S. Navy to pay tribute to the woman whose Senate seat Collins holds.

In a letter to Navy Secretary John Dalton, Collins requested that a future Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer bear the name of Sen. Margaret Chase Smith.

Regarding her request, Collins said in a news release, “Margaret Chase Smith accomplished many `firsts’ in her 32-year congressional career, among them the well-known fact that she was the first woman elected in her own right to both houses of Congress.