The Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus today announced that the naming ceremony for a new U.S. Navy ship in honor of Harvey Milk will take place Tuesday, Aug. 16 at 2 p.m. at Treasure Island Great Lawn in San Francisco.
An earlier notification indicated Mabus intended to name a planned Military Sealift Command fleet oiler USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206). The ship would be the second of the John Lewis-class oilers being built by General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, Calif.
Milk joined the United States Navy during the Korean War. He served aboard the submarine rescue ship USS Kittiwake (ASR-13) as a diving officer. He later transferred to Naval Station, San Diego to serve as a diving instructor. In 1955, he was discharged from the Navy at the rank of lieutenant, junior grade.
Harvey Milk’s father, William Milk, also served on a submarine during World War II. His mother, Minerva Karns, was an early feminist activist who joined the Yeomanettes, a group agitating for the inclusion of women in the US Navy during World War I.
Following his service, Milk was elected to the San Francisco board of supervisors and was the first openly gay California politician to be elected to office. He was killed in office in 1978.
Does this mean the ship is already built? Will this be the launching of the ship too?
I’m guessing this must be a public ceremony if they’re having it on the Great Lawn at Treasure Island, right?