The John Lewis-class replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) conducts a replenishment at sea with the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), right, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, USS Ross (DDG 71), December 13, 2024. U.S. Navy
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Friday that the United States Navy is renaming the USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson, stating “We are taking the politics out of ship naming.”
The decision follows Hegseth’s reported directive earlier this month instructing the Navy to rename the John Lewis-class fleet oiler that was delivered to the Navy in 2023. The announcement coincides with Pride Month and represents what officials describe as part of broader military efforts to scale back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
The vessel was originally named after Harvey Milk, a Navy veteran who became one of the first openly gay individuals elected to public office in the United States. The Navy had designated this honor to Milk in 2016.
The USNS Harvey Milk serves as part of the John Lewis-class fleet oiler program, featuring 742-foot vessels designed for critical at-sea replenishment. These ships carry approximately 157,000 barrels of oil and provide diesel fuel, lubricating oil, and other provisions to Navy ships at sea.
General Dynamics NASSCO, which delivered the vessel, currently holds contracts for seventeen of the planned twenty ships in the program, with the contract expanded in September 2024 and valued at potentially over $6.7 billion.
The John Lewis-class ships have traditionally been named after civil rights leaders, with other vessels including the USNS John Lewis, USNS Earl Warren, and USNS Robert F. Kennedy.
The ship’s new namesake, U.S. Navy Chief Watertender Oscar Verner Peterson, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism during World War II. While in charge of a repair party during a Japanese aerial attack on the USS Neosho on May 7, 1942, Peterson, despite severe injuries, closed bulkhead stop valves at the cost of his life, sustaining additional burns that proved fatal. His sacrifice exemplified “the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service,” according to his Medal of Honor citation.
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