USNS Harvey Milk
The second John Lewis-class refueling machine named USNS Harvey Milk operated by the Military Sealift Command to assist US Navy vessels has been launched. Construction of the class’s flagship named USNS John Lewis began in the year 2018 at NASSCO, General Dynamics in San Diego. According to the Navy Ship Register, the construction of both ships was approved in the year 2016.
Highlights
The US Navy launched a ship named after a gay rights activist who was forced to retire in the 1950s due to his sexual orientation. USNS Harvey Milk was introduced in San Diego. This is one of six new vessels named after a well-known US civil rights activist. Others include murdered presidential candidate Robert Kennedy and former Chief Justice Earl Warren. The ship was officially baptized at a ceremony held in San Francisco in the year 2016. She is the first US Navy ship to be openly named after a homosexual. The first steel cut took place in the year 2019, and construction of the ship began. The ship was launched on 6th November, 2021 in front of Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk and Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.
In the year 1977 Milk was elected to the San Francisco Supervisory Board and became United States’ first openly gay politician. But a year later, he was shot dead by Dan White, a former city director who often clashed with him. He was forced to accept a non-honourable discharge from the army instead of a court martial in order to face homosexuality. When the administration led by ex-president Obama, announced the ship’s name after Milk, a few people opposed the move. They suggested that the name of the naval vessel would be disapproved because Milk opposed the Vietnam War.