The U.S. Navy has officially renamed the USNS Harvey Milk, a ship previously dedicated to a prominent gay rights activist, to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson, in a move Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says is aimed at “taking the politics out of ship naming.”
The announcement was made Friday in a video message and statement posted to Hegseth’s official account on X. The secretary emphasized the renaming as a departure from what he called politicized naming decisions by prior administrations. “We’re not renaming the ship to anything political,” Hegseth said. “This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration.”
I am pleased to announce that the United States Navy is renaming the USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson.
We are taking the politics out of ship naming. pic.twitter.com/2ypwAQGdAl
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) June 27, 2025
Instead, the new namesake — Chief Watertender Oscar V. Peterson — was a Navy hero who posthumously received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during World War II. During the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942, Peterson led a repair party aboard the USS Neosho as it sustained heavy damage from Japanese dive bombers. Despite being gravely wounded, Peterson managed to close bulkhead valves, helping to save the ship. He later succumbed to his injuries.
“His spirit of self-sacrifice and concern for crewmates was in keeping with the finest traditions of the Navy,” Hegseth said.
The USNS Harvey Milk, part of the John Lewis-class of logistics support ships, was originally named in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus under the Obama administration. Milk, a former San Francisco city supervisor and gay rights icon, had served briefly in the Navy but was given an other-than-honorable discharge after allegations of homosexual conduct — at a time when such matters led to disciplinary action under military policy.
Milk’s legacy and the decision to name a ship in his honor have remained controversial. Critics, including some military veterans, questioned naming a vessel after a figure with no direct combat or Navy legacy, especially given his discharge record and other troubling aspects of his personal history. Supporters, however, argued the name was a symbol of inclusion and historical recognition.
Hegseth’s decision signals a broader shift in Pentagon policy regarding commemorations and military honors, aiming to return to naming conventions rooted in battlefield heroism and traditional service merit. Peterson, a decorated WWII sailor whose heroism had not previously been honored with a ship name, represents that recalibration.
The move follows criticism of the John Lewis-class naming pattern, which has included several figures with limited or no military service backgrounds — including civil rights leaders and political activists such as Earl Warren, Robert F. Kennedy, Sojourner Truth, and others.
