Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the U.S. Navy to rename one of its ships. A new memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy calls for the renaming of the oiler the USNS Harvey Milk, according to Military.com.
Who was Harvey Milk?
Milk was a gay rights leader and Navy veteran who was the first openly homosexual person to be elected to public office in California in 1977 as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Milk was assassinated alongside then-San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in 1978 by a disgruntled former member of the board.
Milk was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 by former President Barack Obama for dedicating his life to โshattering boundaries and challenging assumptions.โ
Why the change?
A defense official told Military.com that the announcement of plans to change the shipโs name during Pride Month was an intentional move.
Unbiased. Straight Facts.TM
Harvey Milk was a gay rights leader and Navy veteran who was the first openly homosexual person to be elected to public office in California in 1977 as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
According to the report, the purpose of the renaming is to bring it into “alignment with president and SECDEF [Secretary of Defense] objectives and SECNAV [Secretary of the Navy] priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture.โ The announcement was initially intended to be made public on June 13, the memo said.
It has not yet been announced what the shipโs new name will be.
What are critics saying?
Former House speaker and California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D, responded to the news, calling the planned change โa shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.”
โOur military is the most powerful in the world โ but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the โwarriorโ ethos,” the statement continued. “Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.โ
Californiaโs Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom also spoke out against the move, saying in a post on X, โStripping his name from a Navy ship won’t erase his legacy as an American icon, but it does reveal Trump’s contempt for the very values our veterans fight to protect.โ
Donald Trumpโs assault on veterans has hit a new low.
— Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) June 3, 2025
Harvey Milk wasnโt just a civil rights icon โ he was a Korean War combat veteran whose commander called him โoutstanding.โ
Stripping his name from a Navy ship wonโt erase his legacy as an American icon, but it does revealโฆ https://t.co/0LPuAtSG1y
It might not be the only one
The USNS Harvey Milk is a John Lewis-class oiler, part of a group of ships named after prominent civil rights leaders and activists.
According to a CBS News report, the Navy is also considering renaming other oilers in that group, including the USNS Thurgood Marshall, the USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the USNS Harriet Tubman.
Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen called the alleged plans โrepulsive.โ
โThese ships honor giants of American history โ people like Marylanders Thurgood Marshall and Harriet Tubman, who helped forge a stronger, more powerful nation and made us a global example of freedom in action,โ he said in a social media post.
Itโs rare for ships to be renamed โ as the Navy considers doing so to be taboo, according to Military.com. Thatโs because maritime folklore says that renaming a boat is bad luck and was, in the past, seen as tempting fate and potentially angering the gods of the sea, who were believed to have a personal record of every boat’s name.
