New Delhi, June 28 -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on June 27, 2025, that the USNS Harvey Milk would be renamed the USNS Oscar V. Peterson, stripping the Navy's first vessel honoring an openly gay figure. Hegseth framed the move as depoliticizing ship naming, emphasizing Peterson's Medal of Honor for heroism during WWII, where he saved the USS Neosho during the Battle of the Coral Sea, dying from severe burns.

Critics, including Democratic leaders, condemned the timing during Pride Month as a "shameful, vindictive erasure". The fleet oiler, originally christened in 2021 under a policy naming ships after civil rights icons, will now commemorate a non-political "warrior," aligning with the Trump administration's push to elimina...