This post has been updated to amend that the future USNS Sojourner Truth (TAO-210) was not seen on a list to be renamed.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has tasked Secretary of the Navy John Phelan to rechristen a fleet oiler named for the late gay rights advocate and Navy veteran Harvey Milk, according to a memo reviewed by USNI News.
The memo outlines an action plan that would have Phelan choose a name on Tuesday for the John Lewis-class oiler to replace USNS Harvey Milk (TAO-205) ahead of a planned announcement on June 13 with the date set at the direction Hegseth. The memo was first reported by Military.com.
The memo sought “alignment with President and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture,” as well as to “Protect SECNAV Title 10 rights.” A defense official told USNI News that the move to rename the ship and the timing was at the direction of Hegseth.
In a Tuesday statement, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell did not address the renaming directly but said: “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.”
A spokesperson for Phelan did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Former SECNAV Ray Mabus named Harvey Milk, the second ship in the Lewis class, in 2016 in honor of the Navy veteran and San Francisco board of supervisors, USNI News reported at the time. Milk commissioned into the Navy in 1951 and served as a diver during the Korean War on the submarine rescue ship Kittiwake. He was discharged in 1955. Milk was wearing his U.S. Navy diver belt buckle when he was shot and killed in 1978.
In addition to renaming Milk, CBS reported that ships in the John Lewis class of oilers named for “people who fought for civil rights and human rights” and the Lewis and Clark class of cargo ships were on a “recommended list” under consideration for renaming.
Those include: USNS Medgar Evers (T-AKE-13); USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE-14); USNS Lucy Stone (TAO-209); the future USNS Thurgood Marshall (TAO-211); the future USNS Ruth Bader Ginsburg (TAO-212); the future USNS Harriet Tubman (TAO-213) and the future USNS Dolores Huerta (TAO-214).
Renaming a Navy ship is rare and an order for the Secretary of the Navy to rename a ship has almost no historical precedent. Since the 19th century, the Secretary of the Navy has had the legal authority to name ships. During his short tenure as SECNAV in 1869, Adolph Borie renamed ships with Native American names after Greek mythological figures — for example, Passaic-class coastal monitor USS Sangamon was renamed USS Jason. Most of Borie’s renamed ships reverted back to their original names after his three-month tenure. Congress and the President have suggested names in the past. For example, Congress has suggested names through “sense of Congress” bills, like a 2006 piece of legislation that recommended naming a carrier for former President Gerald R. Ford or a guided-missile destroyer for the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).
In 1982, the Navy adjusted the name of the former Los Angeles-class attack submarine from Corpus Christi (SSN-705) to the City of Corpus Christi (SSN-705) after Congress asked not to have a warship named “the body of Christ” and instead honor the Texas town.
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2020 ordered a Naming Commission to look into Confederate symbols across the U.S. military. After recommendations from the Commission, in 2023, the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) was renamed USS Robert Smalls (CG-62) and the Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury (T-AGS-66) was renamed as the USNS Marie Tharp (TAGS-66).
Hegseth has reversed some of the commission’s other decisions for U.S. Army bases formerly named for Confederates. For example, Hegseth renamed Fort Liberty Fort Bragg, but not for Confederate general Braxton Bragg but for World War II paratrooper PFC. Ronald Bragg, who was awarded the Silver Star in the Battle of the Bulge.
Other efforts for the Navy to rename ships have been unsuccessful. A grassroots campaign to rename aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) due to the namesake’s segregationist background has been unsuccessful.
