Hegseth: USNS Havey Milk to be renamed USNS Oscar V. Peterson
June 27 (UPI) -- The USNS Harvey Milk is being renamed after Oscar V. Peterson, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced Friday.
"I am pleased to announce that the United States Navy is renaming the USNS Harvey Milk to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson," Hegseth said on X, in a post accompanied by a video.
"We are taking the politics out of ship naming. We're not renaming the ship to anything political. This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration," Hegseth said in the video Friday.
Peterson received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service in World War II, after the Navy chief petty officer was wounded in battle.
"During the Battle of the Coral Sea in May of 1942, Chief Watertender Peterson led a repair party on the USS Neosho. The ship was severely damaged by Japanese dive bombers, and the entire repair party was either killed or severely wounded," Hegseth said Friday.
"Peterson himself was gravely wounded, yet he managed to single-handedly close the bulkhead stop valves, thereby helping to keep the ship operational."
Hegseth previously confirmed he had ordered the U.S. Navy to rename the replenishment oiler, which bears the name of Milk, a gay rights activist assassinated in 1978. The Defense Secretary at the time said the move was being made to align "with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of re-establishing the warrior culture."
A Defense Department official said at the time the renaming was intentionally done during Pride month.
Milk won a San Francisco supervisor seat in 1977. The U.S. Navy veteran served in the Korean War and became the first openly gay person in the country to be elected to public office. His name has remained synonymous with the LGBTQ movement.
Milk was assassinated the year after taking office and was in 2009 posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
The decision to remove his name from one of the six John Lewis Class ships was met with protest from Democrats. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at the time called the decision "shameful." Pelosi's Congressional District includes San Francisco.
The ship was first named after Milk in 2016, becoming the first naval vessel named after an openly-gay person. It was launched in 2021.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
21 minutes ago
- New York Post
Commerce Secretary Lutnick says Intel needs to give government stake for CHIPS funding
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday confirmed that the government wants Intel to cough up a 10% equity stake in exchange for nearly $8 billion in CHIPS Act funding approved by the Biden administration. Lutnick said the the stake would be a return on its 'investment' in the struggling chipmaker. 'We should get an equity stake for our money,' Lutnick told CNBC's 'Squawk on the Street.' Advertisement 3 Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during a television interview at the White House in July. AP 'So we'll deliver the money, which was already committed under the Biden administration. We'll get equity in return for it.' The government does not want control of the company, he added. Advertisement Lutnick's comments came on the heels of a report Monday that President Trump was seeking a 10% stake in the company. 'The president wants to put America's needs first, both from a national security and economic perspective, and it's a creative idea that has never been done before,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday in confirming that Lutnick was working on a deal. Intel declined to comment. Advertisement Shares of Intel jumped 7% on the prospect of the government bailing out the chipmaker. 'The stake would be a conversion of the grants and maybe increase the investment into Intel to help stabilize the company for chip production here,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC. On Monday, Japanese firm SoftBank announced it would invest $2 billion in Intel, making it the fifth-largest shareholder, according to FactSet. Intel was awarded $8.5 billion in CHIPS Act funding under the Secure Enclave program, a national security initiative to make microchips for defense and intelligence applications. Advertisement 3 Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan delivers a speech at an exhibition in Taiwan in May. AP It was later slashed by more than $600 million to about $7.85 billion, but Intel still tops the list as one of the companies receiving the most federal funding. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has also been awarded $6.6 billion to boost chip production at its Arizona facilities. 'The Biden administration literally was giving Intel money for free, and giving TSMC money for free, and all these companies just giving them money for free,' Lutnick told 'Squawk Box.' Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with Trump at the White House last week to clear the air over accusations of having financial ties to China. 3 Intel slowed its construction and now expects its first factory to start operations in 2030. Getty Images Trump had initially called on Tan to 'resign immediately' following a letter from Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) to Intel's board requesting information on the CEO's business dealings. Tan, who was born in Malaysia and grew up in Singapore, took the helm at Intel in March after the software giant ousted Pat Gelsinger following dismal earnings and several rounds of layoffs. Advertisement Intel has struggled financially in recent months and recorded an annual loss of $18.8 billion in 2024, its first such loss since 1986. The Trump administration has been making a series of moves involving US companies, including proposing to allow Nvidia to sell its H20 chips to China in exchange for the government receiving 15% of the company's sales of some advanced chips to Chinese businesses and offering a similar deal with Nvidia's smaller rival AMD. MP Materials said last month that the Defense Department will become its largest shareholder as part of a multibillion-dollar deal with the government to boost output of rare earth magnets.
NBC News
22 minutes ago
- NBC News
US destroyers head toward waters off Venezuela as Trump aims to pressure drug cartels
WASHINGTON — The United States is deploying three Aegis guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump's effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels, according to a U.S. official briefed on the planning. The USS Gravely, the USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson are expected to arrive soon, said the official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke Tuesday on the condition of anonymity. A Defense Department official confirmed that the military assets have been assigned to the region in support of counter narcotics efforts. The official, who was not authorized to comment about military planning, said the vessels would be deployed 'over the course of several months.' The deployment of U.S. destroyers and personnel comes as Trump has pushed for using the U.S. military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into American communities and for perpetuating violence in some U.S. cities. Trump has also pressed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to cooperate more on security than her predecessor, specifically being more aggressive in pursuit of Mexico's cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico's sovereignty, rejecting suggestions by Trump and others of intervention by the U.S. military. Trump in February designated Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, MS-13 in El Salvador and six groups based in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations. His Republican administration has also stepped up immigration enforcement against alleged gang members. The designation is normally reserved for groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State group that use violence for political ends — not for money-focused crime rings such as the Latin American cartels. But the Trump administration argues the international connections and operations of the groups — including drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and violent pushes to extend their territory — warrant the designation. Earlier this month, the Trump government announced it was doubling to $50 million a reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world's largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the U.S. with fentanyl-laced cocaine. The press office of Venezuela's government did not respond to a request for comment from the AP on the deployment of the destroyers. But without mentioning the ships, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil in a statement Tuesday characterized the U.S. government's drug-trafficking accusations against Venezuela. 'Washington's accusing Venezuela of drug trafficking reveals its lack of credibility and the failure of its policies in the region,' Gil said. 'While Washington threatens, Venezuela steadily advances in peace and sovereignty, demonstrating that true effectiveness against crime is achieved by respecting the independence of its peoples. Every aggressive statement confirms the inability of imperialism to subdue a free and sovereign people.' Maduro on Monday said the U.S. had increased its threats against Venezuela and announced the planned deployment of more than 4.5 million militia members around the country. The militias were created by then-President Hugo Chávez to incorporate volunteers who could assist the armed forces in the defense of external and domestic attacks. 'The empire has gone mad and has renewed its threats to Venezuela's peace and tranquility,' Maduro said at an event in Caracas, without mentioning any specific action. Maduro was indicted in a New York federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. Back then, the U.S. offered a $15 million reward for his arrest.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
A tech bailout? Trump admin in talks about taking 10% stake in chipmaker Intel
An Intel deal would be one of the largest government interventions in private industry since the U.S. auto industry's bailout under President Obama. WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration is in talks for the federal government to take a 10% equity stake in the troubled chipmaker company Intel, White House officials confirmed. The discussions, which come as Intel has struggled to open manufacturing centers planned in the United States, would be one of the largest government interventions in the private industry since the bailout of the U.S. auto industry under former President Barack Obama. "It's a creative idea that has never been done before to ensure that we're both reassuring these critical supply chains while also gaining something of it for the American taxpayer," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at an Aug. 19 press briefing when asked about the government potentially acquiring stake in Intel. Leavitt said U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutick is "ironing out the details." Any deal between the U.S. and Intel would likely require approval from the company's board of directors. During an interview earlier in the day on CNBC's "Squawk Box," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the federal government would take an equity stake in Intel in exchange for billions in federal grants awarded to the company by the Biden administration. "The stake would be a conversion of the grants and maybe increase the investment into Intel to help stabilize the company for chip production here in the U.S.," Bessent said. Former President Joe Biden's Chips and Science Act, signed into law in 2022, included $39 billion in subsidies to boost U.S. semiconductor manufacturing. President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the incentives as giveaways. Bloomerg News, which first reported on the discussions, said a 10% stake in the chipmaker would be worth around $10.5 billion ‒ an amount that would nearly match the $10.9 billion in federal grants Intel has received for commercial and military production. The greatest beneficiary of the Biden law was Intel, which announced several projects with help from the incentives including a sprawling semiconductor facility outside Columbus, Ohio, that the company hoped would become "the largest semiconductor manufacturing site on the planet." The Ohio project has been marred by delays, however. Intel's first Ohio plant was originally set to open in 2025, but financial challenges forced the company to delay that opening to 2030 or 2031. Lutnick told CNBC that the U.S. wants a return on any "investment" in Intel. "We should get an equity stake for our money," the Commerce secretary said in a separate interview with the network. "Instead of just giving grants away." The Intel arrangment wouldn't be the first time Trump has secured U.S. stake of private companies during his second term. As part of a merger between Japanese-based Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel that Trump approved in June, Nippon granted his administration a "golden share" in the company. Contributing: Max Filby, Columbus Dispatch; Reuters Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
