Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered the U.S. Navy to rename a ship honoring a San Francisco gay rights icon to something less ridiculous. A memo from Hegseth to Navy Secretary John Phelan directed that the Military Sealift Command underway replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk have its current name stricken. The memo indicates this will be the first of a wholesale renaming of the "John Lewis" class of logistics ships to ensure "alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture." According to ABC, "A defense official said the timing of the decision was intentional." Apparently, Secretary Phelan had already decided that renaming the ship was a priority; it was Hegseth who accelerated the timeline.

President Barack Obama's Navy Secretary Ray Mabus inaugurated the John Lewis class in January 2016. The lead vessel in the class was named after Georgia Congressman and civil rights figure John Lewis. Lewis had no connection to the U.S. military or the Navy. The other active vessel in the class, besides the USNS Harvey Milk and USNS John Lewis, is the USNS Earl Warren. Ships for Robert F. Kennedy, Lucy Stone, and Sojourner Truth have been christened. Ships named for Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are under construction. Those named for Harriet Tubman and Dolores Huerta have been ordered.

Milk was a problematic choice from any perspective other than trying to be "in your face" about his flamboyant variety of homosexuality. Milk got an other-than-honorable discharge from the Navy for engaging in homosexual acts. According to his biographer Randy Shilts in “The Mayor of Castro Street,” Milk frequently attempted to prey on young sailors while he was a Navy officer; he had an underage teen as a paramour when he was 33, and he was a supporter of Jim Jones's Peoples Temple before the whole Flavor-Aid messiness. But, from an administration that awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Milk, it is no surprise that he was allowed to make thousands of sailors the butt (can I do that?) of jokes by naming a ship after him.

The alleged intent to suppress the heterodox names in this class of ships seems to be correct. "CBS News found that a December 2024 web article from Naval Sea Systems Command about the laying of the keel for the future USNS Thurgood Marshall has been deleted."

Other than these ships, I'd offer up at least two others belonging to the Lewis-and-Clark-class dry cargo underway replenishment ships: the USNS Medgar Evers and the USNS Cesar Chavez. In my view, selecting those names is as much about virtue signaling as it is honoring Americans.

Nancy Pelosi was not happy. "The reported decision by the Trump administration to change the names of the USNS Harvey Milk and other ships in the John Lewis-class is a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American dream." She added, "Our military is the most powerful in the world -- but this spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the 'warrior' ethos.' Instead, it is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country." It is a bit late to worry about spiteful gestures once statues have been pulled down and warships renamed to appease the gods of wokeness.

The Harvey Milk is undergoing a refit at Mobile, Alabama, and is scheduled to return to sea on June 22. The renaming will probably take place before that happens.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell (who is such a breath of fresh air after the oleaginous John Kirby) indicated this view was not twitching the needle on the Pentagon's concern-meter.

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that Hegseth "is committed to ensuring that the names attached to all DOD installations and assets are reflective of the Commander-in-Chief's priorities, our nation's history, and the warrior ethos." Parnell added that any potential renaming decisions would be announced once the internal reviews are complete. 

While we're at it, can we revisit the recent custom of naming nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers after living presidents? It's unseemly and frequently leads to unfortunate imagery.

The only bad news is that it is rumored that Hegesth and Parnell have decided to name it the "Constitution." That is sad. "Old Ironsides" deserves better than to roam the waves again delivering diesel.

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