"New US Oiler to Honor Gay Rights Activist" Topic

The Navy is set to name a ship after the gay rights icon and San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, according to a Congressional notification obtained by USNI News.

The July 14, 2016 notification, signed by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, indicated he 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…

Mabus has said the John Lewis-class – named after civil rights activist and congressman Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) – would be named after civil rights leaders…

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"fleet "oiler USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206)."

Appropriate name.

Milky McMilkface? Uhh,… Perhaps not! Apologies to all. :-)
Cheers.
Rod Robertson.

I do not like having ships named after politicians, regardless of orientation.
But my vote doesn't count.
Nothing against Milk, just the whole idea.

Agreed Winston. I liked the idea of naming carriers
after battles, not Presidents, members of Congress, etc.

Yes, because with all the really important things going on in the world. This even rates any sort of consideration ?

Legion 4 (+1)

Pretty sure this ship was not named with ISIS in mind, nor does anyone in charge of naming ships really care about what ISIS thinks. We are on a website that has a newsfeed about toy soldiers. With all that is going on in the world, I'm sure ISIS and AQ are more important than this silly hobby. Take up your rifle and invade; there can be no middle ground or normalcy while Daesh lives!

Damon, a little perspective is useful here…

……………..

Too old … if they have to take a fat 60 year old crimple … … things must be pretty bad … I served in the US ARMY Infantry,'79-'90. I doubt I'd have still been on active duty at 60.

Damon, a little perspective is useful here…

Yes ?

We are on a website that has a newsfeed about toy soldiers

Yes, but it has to be clear by now, to many on this board, Ultramodern Warfare. That more than just talking about playing with toys goes on here. However, the important thing is, no one forces anyone to go to or comment on any boards on TMP. This is a democracy and Bill is "El President' " …

The USN currying favor with San Francisco maybe? Or perhaps engaging with parts of the city government that have had frosty toward the Navy recent years.

San Francisco is a very important base location for the Navy and there's been some friction between them and some of the city's leadership.

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The point I am making Legion 4 is not that this conversation should be banned, but complaining about the naming of an oiler because ISIS exists is IMHO silly, when we have a website here that advertises toy soldiers. That is not to trivialize the threat these people represent, but you know life goes on…

Damon.

Indeed … Life is full of silly things …

"The USN currying favor with San Francisco maybe? I know relations between the two has been frosty in recent years. Time to bury the hatchet and get on that liberal city's good side? San Francisco is a very important base location for the Navy and there's been a lot of friction between them and some of the city's leadership."

I'm pretty sure the Navy is out of San Francisco. Alameda's closed, the shipyard is closed, Treasure island is closed. Maybe some reserve facilities? Suisun Bay is still active, but that's a left turn in the bay.

Alameda's closed

Good lord! Then where do they keep the nucular whessels?

Damon. :)

As a native Bay Area guy and someone who has lived in SF multiple times since childhood I can attest that SF has no naval facilities and will never be hosting any, even in event of WWIII. Way too much PC p
olitical opposition.

Nothing the USN could ever do would make the people of SF ever welcome active military. The USN could become a non-armed ice cream delivery service and there'd still be opposition.

Milk was a famous activist for gay civil rights. He was assassinated.

John Lewis is a famous black civil rights activist. From what I've heard he was beaten etc. but he is a congressman and still alive.
Naming the class of FLEET OILERS after a still living politician is what irks me. That smacks of the usual politics. All military is evil, unless you build it in my district or name it after me.
Look at all the crap John Stennis has named after him, including a Nimitz class aircraft carrier.

I am much more annoyed at naming the lead ship in the class after a living politician than having a ship named after an assassinated gay civil rights activist.
Is there a USS Martin Luther King? He is far more deserving than Stennis or Vinson.
Hmmmmmm….. I wonder what their civil rights voting record was.

Is there a USS Martin Luther King?

Apparently not.

Aside from the fact that , I wish they'd name ships after people who actually have some connection to the Navy.

What better way to tell the fundamentalists we're fighting to get stuffed?

I wish they'd name ships after people who actually have some connection to the Navy.

He was in the navy.

But I have to agree it's a weird choice for a ship. Did we run out of sailors known for their actions in combat? And I second the call to stick with place names and battles.

If we're doing it to spite ISIS, then how about a USS Bacon, USS Porkchop, USS Lady Gaga…

Yes, because with all the really important things going on in the world. This even rates any sort of consideration ?

Yes, how in the world can a bureaucracy the size of the US military-industrial complex possibly do two or more things at the same time?

The real reason for your complaint is pretty obvious, Ralph.

>If we're doing it to spite ISIS, then how about a USS Bacon, USS Porkchop, USS Lady Gaga…

Im down with all of these. You guys were talking about expanding the navy anyways.

But I have to agree it's a weird choice for a ship. Did we run out of sailors known for their actions in combat? And I second the call to stick with place names and battles.

Well, considering that the decision has already been made to name this series of oilers after civil-rights activists, at least Milk has a naval connection.

We should not honor men who have sex with 15 year old boys by naming ships after them.

We should name ships after naval heroes or people who have performed great service to the US Navy, or name ships after noble ships of the past that are no longer in US Navy service.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

So, the "USS Village People" is off the list even though they have performed great service to the Navy? :-) I'm sorry again but I just can't resist making fun of this absurd thread.
Cheers.
Rod Robertson.

Weasel:
In the spirit of one-stop-shopping, why not the "USS Haram"! That pretty much covers it all!
Cheers.
Rod Robertson

I'm sorry again but I just can't resist making fun of this absurd thread.

Well, what's left of this thread, anyway. Pretty much all the detractors have been deleted or snipped. Makes you wonder what Bill expected when he posted this.

Meilczyslaw:

As the Poet-Laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson almost wrote:

'Forward, the Light Brigade!'
Was there a man dismay'd ?
Not tho' the soldier knew,
Some one had blunder'd:
Theirs but to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do & die,
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cheers.
Rod Robertson.

How about the USS Passive-Aggressive?

(In honour – sorry, honor – of this thread, perhaps……)

i don't think is a problem to endorse ships with non-military names…after all many other navies had peacfull names….for exmaple the French ones: Zephir, Topaze…or many Itaians ones too

At one time, when the USN had a policy about what each type of ship was named after, Fleet Oilers were named after North American rivers with Native American names. Someone in the USN with a sense of humor decided to name Ammunition Ships after volcanos.

Name them all after 80's Metal bands.

Who wouldn't want to serve on the USS Overkill?

More ships named after famous nautical figures! USS Ahab, USS Popeye, USS Submariner, USS Aquaman, USS Nemo, USS Long John Silver!

Makes you wonder what Bill expected when he posted this.

Adult behavior?

And, in any case, i have to accept a ship in the navy of my country…called "garibaldi"..it could be compared if i had to accept..if i was a US citizen a ship to be labelled Jeffery Amherst..

It's a brave new world.

If there is a ship called the Garibaldi, why not one called the Fig Newton?

Adult behavior?

Garibaldi: every navy should have a ship named after this great man. I'm not sure Italy has ever produced a greater.

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So, the "USS Village People" is off the list even though they have performed great service to the Navy?

I think you just won the thread, Rod. [Log it, this may be the only time Rod and I agree on something!]

Turns out that under the USN's naming conventions, submarines are named for "creatures of the deep" – i.e., any marine species. So they could sneak in a Garibaldi if they so chose – this is what the Garibaldi (Hypsypops rubicundus) looks like:

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So maybe a rescue vessel.

So "……………….." is now controversial, and subject to nuking/deletion?

My, how far we've come.

Good to know that the USN and our military leadership are focusing on the critical matters for our country, and the protection of its citizens.

I do not like having ships named after politicians,

But a good number of your politicians also have military backgrounds. It seems fair, for instance, to name a sub after Jimmy Carter, or a carrier after George Bush Sr., since they served on subs and carriers, respectively.

Then there's grey areas like naming ships after civilian leaders who did a lot for the military, like Elihu Root or Franklin Roosevelt.

Anyway, can it really get worse than some of the British names? I dated a girl whose father had served on HMS Candytuft.

And let's not forget the WW2 vessel HMS Pansy – reputedly the toughest crew in the entire RN.

"Garibaldi: every navy should have a ship named after this great man. I'm not sure Italy has ever produced a greater"

quite a few men greater than him..for ex this one

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone

or this one
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So Italy's greatest men were born in New York & California?
There's always Columbus, who may well have been the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman so even less Italian than the other two.

And let's not forget the WW2 vessel HMS Pansy – reputedly the toughest crew in the entire RN.

I fear that in the past I have been guilty of perpetuating this myth. It would seem that there never was an HMS Pansy in WWII. There was one in the original list but their Lordships changed it to HMS Heartsease before it was commissioned. She was transfered to the USN as USS Courage in 1942.

There were 267 Flower class corvettes and they must have had the widest range of users of any warship. They served in the RN, RCN, USN and US Coastguard, RNZN, the Free French, Dutch, Norwegian, Greek and Indian Navies. The oddest user was the Kreigsmarine, they confiscated some from the French.

The US tended to go for butcher sounding names while some of the Canadian ones were just weird, HMCS Asbestos anyone?