The United States Navy has a lot of boats, and those boats are always in need of names. Over the years, the Navy began naming their boats after civil rights leaders, humanitarians, women’s rights pioneers and LGBTQ icons. There’s a USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers. There’s also a boat named after Harvey Milk, the slain gay-rights icon and Navy veteran. Well, Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration want to rename all of these boats. Especially the USNS Harvey Milk. This news came out during Pride Month too.
The U.S. Navy is considering renaming multiple naval ships named after civil rights leaders and prominent American voices, CBS News has learned. Among them is the USNS Harvey Milk, a fleet replenishment oiler named after the slain gay rights leader and Navy veteran.
U.S. Navy documents obtained by CBS News and used to brief the secretary of the Navy and his chief of staff show proposed timelines for rolling out the name change of the USNS Harvey Milk to the public. While the documents do not say what the ship’s new name would be, the proposal comes during Pride Month, the monthlong observance of the LGBTQ+ community that also coincides with the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising of 1969. WorldPride celebrations are being held in Washington, D.C., this year.
The documents obtained by CBS News also show other vessels named after prominent leaders are also on the Navy’s renaming “recommended list.”
Among them are the USNS Thurgood Marshall, USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg, USNS Harriet Tubman, USNS Dolores Huerta, USNS Lucy Stone, USNS Cesar Chavez and USNS Medgar Evers. 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.
“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,” Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi told CBS News in statement. 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.”
Are we winning yet, MAGA? Sailors are going to be riding the USS Eric Trump, USS Muskrat and the USNS Other Trump Daughter to invade Greenland. Melania will want to name the boats too – the USS Smokey Eye, or the USS I Don’t Care Do U. It’s just asinine and petty – even if you argue that sure, the Trump administration gets to name new boats, it’s ridiculous to spend any time or money to RENAME existing boats. That’s how you curse a sea vessel too – would any superstitious sailor ever choose to sail on the USS Javanka, formerly the Harvey Milk?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.
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- Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz (R) and US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth (C) with his wife Jennifer Rauchet (L) attend an official welcome ceremony before their meeting at the Defence Ministry headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, 14 February 2025.,Image: 963732613, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: POLAND OUT, Model Release: no, Credit line: Marcin Obara/PAP/Avalon
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- US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth attends a press conference after her meeting with Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz at the Defence Ministry headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, 14 February 2025.,Image: 963772008, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: POLAND OUT, Model Release: no, Credit line: Marcin Obara/PAP/Avalon
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- US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth attends a press conference after her meeting with Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz at the Defence Ministry headquarters in Warsaw, Poland, 14 February 2025.,Image: 963772031, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: POLAND OUT, Model Release: no, Credit line: Marcin Obara/PAP/Avalon
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- Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz (C) and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (R) meet with US Army soldiers at 33rd Air Base in Powidz, west-central Poland, 15 February 2025.,Image: 964269654, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: POLAND OUT, Model Release: no, Credit line: Pawel Jaskolka/PAP/Avalon
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- President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense United States Secretary of Defense-designate Pete Hegseth testifies at his Senate Armed Services confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate office building in Washington, D.C. Featuring: United States Secretary of Defense-designate Pete Hegseth Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 14 Jan 2025 Credit: CNP/INSTARimages
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- Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House Featuring: President Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 10 Apr 2025 Credit: Shawn Thew/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
The Harriet Tubman renaming is particularly infuriating. She was a union spy during the Civil War and coordinated with its military to lead a successful attack. She’s exactly the kind of person that should be honored with these namings, but of course the Trump administration is too racist to realize that.
Or how about Thurgood Marshall, one of the greatest Supreme Court justices in the history of the country. Oh but he was black. They are despicable morons.
And these are the same people who cry about “erasing history” if we change the name of a fort that was named after a treasonous racist. 🙄
They’ll change the USS Harvey Milk to the USS Andrew Tate. Sickening. America really is the meth lab in the basement, no wonder I won’t set foot in that godforsaken country. Good friends of ours here in Canada have a daughter (black) who is a tenured professor at U of California, Irvine in California and she’s had a Green Card for years, totally legal, and yet she’s terrified to come visit her parents here on Vancouver Island for fear they won’t let her back in the country. What is happening is giving me nightmares so I can’t imagine what so many good, sane Americans are going through.
I’m thinking they’ll change it to the USS Stonewall Jackson, insisting Stonewall is a tribute to the LGBTQ community.
LOL!
If it’s sick, wasteful, and unnecessary, it’s on their agenda.
What a daily sh*tshow.
wtf. I can’t with this.
Imagine this kind of crap being at the top of the priorities list. How ridiculous does it make these a-holes look that THAT is what they’re wasting their time worrying about. F*cking clowns.
I said the same thing when a friend shared the story with me. They are a bunch of petty, nasty kids. Their immaturity and single minded need to “own the libs” is dragging this entire country down.
I cant either.
Considered bad luck to rename ships. This won’t endear him to Navy personnel, I bet.
They are all given nicknames by the crew. The Milk and the Tubman, are probably unoffocially called something affectionate or teasing. I have a family member who served on the Leaks and Creaks (Lewis & Clark). Don’t worry, Hegseth, the crew will keep calling their ships what they always have, no matter how much money you waste trying to change it.
Douche moves.
Since it’s an oil replenishing tanker they’ll probably name it after Doug Burgum, Texas oilman and Trump’s Sec of The Interior. What a steward for the land – Not!
It’s bad luck to change the name of a ship. I hate Pete with the power of a thousand suns.
This is just mean and petty. Trump brought in Musk to eliminate trillions in wasteful spending (he failed). But somehow the Trump administration is perfectly OK wasting this money to change ships names they are all hopped up about.
God this next 4 years are not going fast enough for me.