Democrats balk at Hegseth’s order to strip Harvey Milk’s name from NASSCO ship

Sen Adam Schiff introduced a resolution to stop the Trump administration from renaming a group of Navy ships built in San Diego though it s almost certain the California senator won t be getting buy-in from Republicans Schiff s resolution strongly encourages the Department of Defense not to take any action on renaming the John Lewis class of oilers all of which were built at NASSCO in Barrio Logan and named after civil- and human-rights leaders Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to strip gay-rights leader and Navy veteran Harvey Milk s name off one ship The ship was given the name during the Obama administration The name-change announcement came deliberately during Pride month Military com published Hegseth commented the renamings are intended to restore the warrior ethos I don t understand how these removals promote the warrior ethos Schiff declared Engaging in such duplicitous word games seems more weak than warrior House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recounted reporters on Tuesday that the efforts to rename the ships are a complete and total disgrace and that Democrats were not going to allow it to happen Republicans have backed Hegseth thus far regarding name changes across the department Sen Ted Budd a member of the Armed Services Committee commented that the naming of a ship is not just a top-down affair In the Navy the first group of sailors aboard a ship participate in its naming and are called plank owners allowing them to proudly claim the ship as a sort of personal touchstone for the rest of their careers They broke with significant naval customs and traditions and they robbed the USNS plank owners of the chance to name these vessels after what mattered the majority to them Budd disclosed But Budd didn t seem aware of the history of the ships themselves blaming the last administration for naming the vessels The Navy released the ship would be named after Harvey Milk under then-President Barack Obama nearly a decade ago Schiff s resolution even if adopted would not stop the Navy from changing the names of the ships and instead is intended to send a message that the Senate isn t interested in spending Department of Defense guidance on these changes in the future Dianne Feinstein was a co-sponsor of the USNS Harvey Milk with her name welded into the hull Schiff reported One wonders if the secretary of defense will try to remove that as well This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS a publication from the nonprofit nonpartisan Allbritton Journalism Institute and NEWSWELL home of Times of San Diego Santa Barbara News-Press and Stocktonia