Hegseth Orders Navy Ship Honoring Civil Rights Icon Renamed

Michael Luciano Jun 3rd, 2025, 5:39 pm

AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered the U.S. Navy to rename at least one vessel that currently honors a civil rights icon.

On Tuesday, Military.com reported that it reviewed a memo from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, which is formulating plans to rename the . The vessel is an oiler ship named for gay rights activist Harvey Milk , who was a San Francisco city councilor when he was assassinated in 1978. A defense official confirmed to the website that the Navy is preparing to rename the ship after Hegseth ordered Navy Secretary John Phelan to do so.

Milk served in the Navy during the Korean War, though he was not deployed. He was

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