Hegseth Reveals the Official New Name of the USNS Harvey Milk

Leah Barkoukis | June 28, 2025 2:30 PM

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.