US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has announced the new name for the US miltary ship named after gay rights icon Harvey Milk.
The ship will now be named after Oscar V Peterson, a chief petty officer who received the congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of the Coral Sea in the second world war. According to the Navy, Peterson kept the ship operational and was credited with saving the lives of 123 of his shipmates before succumbing to his injuries.
Making the announcement on the eve of the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the event that led to International Pride month, Hegseth posted to social media platform X saying, “We are taking the politics out of ship naming.”
In an accompanying video the Secretary of Defense said “We’re not renaming the ship to anything political, this is not about political activists – unlike the previous administration.”
“People want to be proud of the ship that their sailing in, so we’re renaming it after a chief, a navy chief.” Hegseth said.
The move is a part of a wider purge of references to anything related to diversity, equity or inclusion throughout the US armed forces that has been rolled out since President Trump returned to power in January.
It’s not the first time a ship has been named after Peterson. In 1943 the navy named an escort ship after Peterson. The USS Peterson served for more than two decades and was decommissioned in June 1965.
The former USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) was launched in 2021 and the second of the John Lewis-class of underway replenishment oilers.
Harvey Milk was one of the first LGBTIQA+ people elected to public office n the USA, and a champion of gay liberation. He served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1977 until his assassination the following year.
Milk served in the Navy during the Korean War. He was forced to resign from his position in 1955 after he was caught in a park that was a well-known haunt for gay men.
Milk later moved to San Francisco opening a camera store on Castro Street. He formed one of the first gay business associations and became colloquially known as the Mayor of Castro Street.
