Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the U.S. Navy to rename an oiler vessel named after a prominent gay rights activist, senior DoD officials told Military.com on Tuesday.
A memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, which was reviewed by the outlet, confirms that the sea service has already drafted rollout plans for renaming the USNS Harvey Milk.
A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name under the explicit direction of Secretary Hegseth. The decision to rename the ship during LGBT “Pride Month” was intentional, the official added.
The memo noted that the renaming was being done so that there is “alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture.”
Milk became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the country during the 1970’s and was widely seen as a leader of the gay rights movement in San Francisco. Milk was ultimately assassinated while serving on the city’s board of supervisors.
According to the memo, the renaming is set to officially be made public on June 13. A new name was not provided in the memo, though it noted that Hegseth and Phelan plan to announce the chance while speaking aboard the USS Constitution, the Navy’s oldest commissioned vessel.
The Harvey Milk is a John Lewis-class oiler, a group of ships that are to be named after prominent civil rights leaders and activists. While renaming ships does have precedence in U.S. Naval history, it is relatively uncommon.
Former President Joe Biden’s Department of Defense announced in 2023 that the Navy would be renaming the the cruiser USS Chancellorsville and research ship USNS Maury would be given name changes after claiming the names were associated with the confederacy.
The ship was first named after Milk in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. Milk came from a family that had a history of naval service himself before entering politics.
After being commissioned as an officer in 1951, Milk served as a diving officer on the submarine rescue ship USS Kittiwake during the Korean War. He was honorably discharged from the service as a lieutenant junior grade in 1955.
When he was 33-years-old, Milk had a relationship with a 16-year-old boy who was looking for a “father figure,” according to Randy Shilts’ “The Mayor of Castro Street.”
Secretary Hegseth has sought to roll back a number of additional name changes that took place in previous administrations across additional military branches. Back in March, Fort Liberty in North Carolina reverted back to its previous name, Fort Bragg, after it was changed by the Biden Administration in 2023.
The fort was initially named after Confederate General Braxton Bragg, though it now honors Army Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War II paratrooper and Silver Star recipient.
