Navy mulls new name for USNS Harvey Milk and ships named for civil rights leaders

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4. Maddow Blog-Pete Hegseth orders the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk

Navy tradition and basic decency make clear the beleaguered defense secretary shouldn’t rename the ship. Hegseth is doing it anyway.

Navy traditions — and basic decency — make clear that Pete Hegseth shouldn't re-name the USNS Harvey Milk.

The beleaguered, scandal-plagued defense secretary is doing it anyway. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-06-03T19:36:06.567Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/pete-hegseth-orders-navy-rename-usns-harvey-milk-rcna210721

Soon after becoming the nation’s latest defense secretary, Pete Hegseth went right to work tackling one of his top priorities: He started renaming things.....

Evidently, he wasn’t kidding. Military.com reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to take the rare step of renaming a ship, one that bears the name of a gay rights icon, documents and sources show. Military.com reviewed a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy — the official who holds the power to name Navy ships — that showed the sea service had come up with rollout plans for the renaming of the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk.

NBC News confirmed the reporting, adding that the change is likely to be implemented quickly.

When then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced nearly a decade ago that the service would name a fleet oiler after Milk, it wasn’t especially controversial. Milk came from a Navy family, served in the Navy stateside during the Korean War on a submarine rescue ship, and was honorably discharged after four years. He went on to become a celebrated civil rights pioneer in San Francisco and popular local elected official.

So why in the world would Hegseth want to name the ship? The defense secretary hasn’t publicly commented, but the fact that Milk was gay apparently mattered a great deal......

Hegseth, evidently, is prioritizing his culture war agenda over Navy traditions.

“

The reported decision by the Trump Administration to change the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and other ships in the John Lewis-class is a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream,”

House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said in a written statement. “Our military is the most powerful in the world — but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the ‘warrior’ ethos. Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.”

The California Democrat added, “As the rest of us are celebrating the joy of Pride Month, it is my hope that the Navy will reconsider this egregious decision and continue to recognize the extraordinary contributions of Harvey Milk, a veteran himself, and all Americans who forged historic progress for our nation.”