Overview
- The fleet replenishment oiler formerly named for gay rights activist and Navy veteran Harvey Milk now carries the name of Chief Watertender Oscar V. Peterson
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on June 27 that the change aims to depoliticize vessel naming in line with President Trump’s effort to restore traditional military culture
- Oscar V. Peterson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for closing bulkhead valves on USS Neosho during the 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea despite suffering fatal wounds
- LGBTQ+ advocates and Democratic lawmakers, including Nancy Pelosi, condemned the timing during Pride Month as an attempt to erase Milk’s legacy
- The Pentagon has directed reviews of other ships named after civil rights leaders, raising the prospect of further renamings