The U.S. Navy is officially changing the name of the San Diego-built USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday morning.
Why it matters: The USNS Harvey Milk, a replenishment oiler with a crew of about 125 civilian mariners, was built at General Dynamics-NASSCO in Barrio Logan and christened in San Diego in 2021.
- Milk, one of the country’s first openly gay politicians before he was assassinated in 1978, was stationed in San Diego as a dive instructor until he was forced out of the military for being gay.
Driving the news: The ship will now be named after Peterson, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Battle of the Coral Sea in World War II, where he is credited with saving the lives of 123 shipmates.
- “We’re renaming the ship after a United States Navy Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, as it should be,” Hegseth said in his announcement.
State of play: Congressional Democrats introduced a long-shot bill this month to prevent Hegseth from renaming the ship, as well as others named after civil rights leaders…