Soon after becoming the nation’s latest defense secretary, Pete Hegseth went right to work tackling one of his top priorities: He started renaming things.
Two weeks into his tenure, for example, the scandal-plagued former television personality signed an order renaming Fort Liberty in North Carolina to Fort Bragg. The controversial Pentagon chief also changed Georgia’s Fort Moore to Fort Benning. Hegseth declared at the time, “As the president has said, and I’ve said as well, we’re not done there.”
Evidently, he wasn’t kidding. Military.com reported:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Navy to take the rare step of renaming a ship, one that bears the name of a gay rights icon, documents and sources show. Military.com reviewed a memorandum from the Office of the Secretary of the Navy — the official who holds the power to name Navy ships — that showed the sea service had come up with rollout plans for the renaming of the oiler ship USNS Harvey Milk.
NBC News confirmed the reporting, adding that the change is likely to be implemented quickly.
When then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced nearly a decade ago that the service would name a fleet oiler after Milk, it wasn’t especially controversial. Milk came from a Navy family, served in the Navy stateside during the Korean War on a submarine rescue ship, and was honorably discharged after four years. He went on to become a celebrated civil rights pioneer in San Francisco and popular local elected official.
So why in the world would Hegseth want to rename the ship? The defense secretary hasn’t publicly commented, but the fact that Milk was gay apparently mattered a great deal.
Indeed, the Military.com report, which NBC News confirmed, noted that a defense official “said that the timing of the announcement — occurring during Pride month — was intentional.”
The same report added, “While there are some rare examples of Navy ships being renamed following construction and christening, those instances are outliers and, broadly, Navy traditions consider renaming a ship to be taboo.”
CBS News, citing Navy documents it obtained, and The New York Times, citing a senior official familiar with a memo from the Navy secretary, reported that several other vessels named for prominent figures have been identified for possible renaming, including ships named for late Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as well as famed abolitonist Harriet Tubman.
Hegseth, evidently, is prioritizing his culture war agenda over Navy traditions.
A Pentagon spokesperson didn’t deny the reporting, instead saying in a written statement, “Secretary 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. Any potential renaming(s) will be announced after internal reviews are complete.”
That didn’t exactly ease the concerns of Hegseth’s Democratic critics.
“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,” House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said in a written statement. “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.”
The Bay Area congresswoman added, “As the rest of us are celebrating the joy of Pride Month, it is my hope that the Navy will reconsider this egregious decision and continue to recognize the extraordinary contributions of Harvey Milk, a veteran himself, and all Americans who forged historic progress for our nation.”
This post has been updated with details from additional reporting.
