Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Friday the official new name for the USNS Harvey Milk, named after the slain Navy veteran and one of the nation’s first openly gay elected officials.
“We are taking the politics out of ship naming. We’re not renaming the ship to anything political,” Hegseth said in a video address. “This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration."
Hegseth said the new name for the fleet replenishment oiler will be named the USNS Oscar V. Peterson after the congressional medal of honor recipient, “as it should be,” he said. “People want to be proud of the ship they're sailing in. And so we're renaming it after a Navy chief."
Hegseth went on to detail Peterson’s heroic actions in 1942, which are also explained on the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s website:
For extraordinary courage and conspicuous heroism above and beyond the call of duty while in charge of a repair party during an attack on the U.S.S. Neosho by enemy Japanese aerial forces on 7 May 1942. Lacking assistance because of injuries to the other members of his repair party and severely wounded himself, Peterson, with no concern for his own life, closed the bulkhead stop valves and in so doing received additional burns which resulted in his death. His spirit of self-sacrifice and loyalty, characteristic of a fine seaman, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country.
I am pleased to announce that the United States Navy is renaming the USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson.
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) June 27, 2025
We are taking the politics out of ship naming. pic.twitter.com/2ypwAQGdAl
Valor > Virtue Signaling https://t.co/APDegk7tnr
— Kingsley Wilson (@PressSecDOD) June 27, 2025
The story of Peterson’s sacrifice during WWII is incredible — and it took a long time before the family got the memorial service and honor befitting his heroism: https://t.co/zckAjWvRgm https://t.co/ANzu7KnyoJ
— Jake Tapper 🦅 (@jaketapper) June 27, 2025
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