Navy set to rename USNS Harvey Milk, mulls new names for other ships named for civil rights leaders

Washington — The U.S. Navy plans to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet replenishment oiler named after the slain homosexual rights chief and Navy veteran, and is contemplating renaming a number of naval ships named after civil rights leaders and outstanding American voices, CBS News has discovered. 

U.S. Navy paperwork obtained by CBS News and used to temporary the secretary of the Navy and his chief of workers present proposed timelines for rolling out the identify change of the USNS Harvey Milk to the general public. Whereas the paperwork don’t say what the ship’s new identify could be, the proposal comes throughout Pride Month, the monthlong observance of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood that additionally coincides with the anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion of 1969. WorldPride celebrations are being held in Washington, D.C., this yr.

The paperwork obtained by CBS News additionally present different vessels named after outstanding leaders are additionally on the Navy’s renaming “beneficial record.” 

Amongst them are the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers. 

CBS News discovered {that a} December 2024 web article from Naval Sea Methods Command concerning the laying of the keel for the long run USNS Thurgood Marshall has been deleted.

“The reported resolution by the Trump Administration to vary the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and different ships within the John Lewis-class is a shameful, vindictive erasure of those that fought to interrupt down boundaries for all to chase the American Dream,” Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi advised CBS News in a press release. 

She added, “Our army is essentially the most highly effective on the planet – however this spiteful transfer doesn’t strengthen our nationwide safety or the ‘warrior’ ethos. As a substitute, it’s a give up of a basic American worth: to honor the legacy of those that labored to construct a greater nation.” 

Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries advised CBS News the transfer was “an utter abomination when it comes to the intense MAGA Republican effort to proceed to erase American historical past, and we’re not going to permit it to occur.” And Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer stated on X that Hegseth “ought to be ashamed of himself and reverse this instantly.”

Following his affirmation in January, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a directive instructing the Pentagon and U.S. army companies to stop internet hosting occasions tied to heritage or consciousness months, citing issues that such applications might undermine unity throughout the ranks. The “Identification Months Useless at DoD” steerage banned official manpower and sources from getting used on such occasions — amongst them, Delight Month, Black Historical past Month and Girls’s Historical past Month.

The paperwork obtained by CBS News weren’t marked with the standard classification markers usually seen on Protection Division memos. The paperwork weren’t marked as “For Official Use Solely” or “Managed Unclassified Info,” they have been additionally not marked to point they have been drafts. There was a “CAUTION” notice, nonetheless, referring to the data as publicly delicate. 

The memo stated the renaming of naval ships was to realign the U.S. army with Trump administration priorities of “reestablishing the warrior tradition.” 

The paperwork name for Navy Secretary John Phelan to pick out a brand new identify for the USNS Harvey Milk on Tuesday, with the discover of the identify change going out to different senior U.S. Navy officers later within the week after present process authorized evaluation. 

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated in a press release that Hegseth “is dedicated to making sure that the names connected to all DOD installations and belongings are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief’s priorities, our nation’s historical past, and the warrior ethos.” Parnell added that any potential renaming selections could be introduced as soon as the inner opinions are full. Navy.com first reported the identify change for the USNS Harvey Milk on Tuesday, however the information of different naval vessels being thought of for a reputation change has not but been reported. 

The USNS Harvey Milk is a John Lewis-class replenishment oiler, designed to help service strike teams at sea. The category of ships is called after civil rights icon and Congressman John Lewis, who died in 2020. 

Harvey Milk, the political trailblazer, emerged within the Seventies as one of many first overtly homosexual elected officers in america. After years of activism, he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977, the place he rapidly grew to become a nationwide image of LGBTQ+ political empowerment. His life was reduce quick in 1978 when he was assassinated in Metropolis Corridor, alongside Mayor George Moscone. 

The USNS Harvey Milk was christened in 2021 and represented a big step towards inclusivity throughout the armed forces. 

Earlier than he emerged as one of the vital seen advocates for homosexual rights in American historical past, Milk served within the U.S. Navy. From 1952 to 1954, he held posts as an operations and dive officer aboard two submarine rescue ships — the usChanticleer and the usKittiwake — each energetic in the course of the Korean Warfare, in response to the U.S. Nationwide Archives. 

However his sexual orientation carried profound penalties as Milk got here beneath scrutiny. In December 1954, Milk, who was then a lieutenant junior grade, was going through a court docket martial for collaborating in a “gay act” a yr earlier. 

As a substitute of going through trial, Milk was drummed out of the U.S. army, like so many different homosexual service members of his period. In January 1954, he resigned his fee and accepted an “Different Than Honorable” discharge. In 2021, the Navy approached Milk’s nephew, Stuart Milk, to see if he wanted his uncle’s discharge upgraded, in response to NPR. Stuart determined towards it as a reminder that not everyone was treated with honor. 

The identify change would comply with two base renamings Hegseth directed earlier this yr to reverse the work a congressionally mandated naming fee did to take away names honoring the Confederacy. In February, he directed Fort Liberty in North Carolina return to Fort Bragg, saying it might now be named after a non-Accomplice Bragg, after which directed Fort Moore change to Fort Benning, after another Benning. 

The naming fee additionally advised the Navy rename the guided missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville, which honors a Accomplice battle victory, to the usRobert Smalls, to acknowledge a slave who stole a Accomplice ship and surrendered it to the Union. The Navy additionally renamed the USNS Maury to the USNS Marie Tharp, eradicating the identify of a Accomplice sailor and changing it with the identify of a pioneering feminine oceanographer. 

Though the Navy has renamed ships for varied causes, identify modifications are nonetheless an exceptionally uncommon prevalence, particularly after the ships have entered service.