Navy to Name Ship After Gay Rights Icon Harvey Milk: Report

The United States Navy will be naming one of their ships after gay rights icon and San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, according to a report by the U.S. Naval Institute, which cites a Congressional notice obtained by USNI News.

The July 14 notice, which was signed by Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, indicates that he plans to name a planned Military Sealift Command fleet oiler, USNS Harvey Milk, according to USNI.

The ship is reportedly being built by General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, California.

Milk, who moved from New York to settle in San Francisco in the seventies, was elected to the SF Board of Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California. In 1972, he and his partner Scott Smith – portrayed by James Franco in the film “Milk” – opened Castro Camera on 575 Castro Street, which he operated until his assassination in 1978. His involvement in San Francisco’s gay rights movement earned him the name “Mayor of Castro Street.”

He joined the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and served on the submarine rescue ship USS Kittiwake (ASR-13) as a diving officer in San Diego. Milk came from a Navy family. He was honorably discharged from service as a lieutenant junior grade, according to USNI.

On Nov. 27, 1978, Milk was shot inside San Francisco City Hall. He was wearing his U.S. Navy diver’s belt buckle at the time, according to the report.

Ever since the 2011 repeal of the Department of Defense’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, California lawmakers have pushed to name a ship after Milk.

“This action by the U.S. Secretary of the Navy will further send a green light to all the brave men and women who serve our nation that honesty, acceptance and authenticity are held up among the highest ideals of our military,” Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk told the San Diego LGBT Weekly in 2012.

On Thursday, San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, who signed a resolution urging the Navy to name a ship after Milk, applauded the Navy's apparent decision.

“This is an incredible day for the LGBT community and for our country. As a gay man and a San Franciscan, I'm incredibly proud that the Navy is honoring Harvey Milk — and the entire LGBT community — by naming a ship after him," Weiner said.

"This momentous decision sends a powerful message around the world about who we are as a country and the values we hold," he said. "When Harvey Milk served in the military, he couldn't tell anyone who he truly was. Now our country is telling the men and women who serve, and the entire world, that we honor and support people for who they are. Harvey Milk's strength continues to reverberate throughout our city, our country, and the world.”

Chester Nimitz was Commander in Chief West Pacific in WW2 at rank of Fleet Admiral. He was an expert on subs and pushed for nuclear propulsion. A submarine and even continuing his name on one would make more sense. But we do have him to thank for listening to then Captain Rickover.

Nimitz as an Ensign did ground his ship and was court martialed & received a letter of letter of reprimand. Given the technology of the day for navigation was likely why I'm guessing and far more common than today. Today as far as I know it's a career ending mistake.

Stennis was a professional lifetime politician having never served. He got his name on a CVN for simply pushing for a larger fleet.

We have not been selective in the naming of ships in 71 years. We have named ships after Presidents that have never served in the armed forces, we have named ships after Congressmen that have never served in the armed forces, we have named ships after an Australian Prime Minister, A British Prime Minister, French Admiral and Prussian Army officer. We have named ships after volcanos, Indian tribes,
Emotions, Rivers, Large cities, small cities, explosives, fish, birds and just about anything else you can think of.
The only class of ships whose names are usually derived from members of the United States Navy or Marine Corp are destroyers and destroyer Escorts. This is not even a Naval vessel, its an MSC ship with a civilian crew.

This is all very easy to understand.

The purpose of the Obama Administration’s policies towards the military are based in three areas,

1: Obama’s loathing for anything so American as our military and his desire to diminish and demoralize it.

2: A lessened military gives us less ability to defend ourselves.

3: The military was among the last “society” to welcome gays with open arms, so now Obama, gay or at least bi himself, now seeks to embarrass it as much as possible.

Gays in combat roles, transgenders everywhere, now this. It’s all very understandable once one understands Obama.

It’s very simple; he hates America and everything American. Just wait until he gives Guantanamo back to Castro and decrees, as CIC, the destruction of nuc warheads.

You are almost there, but you need to dig a little deeper.

What is it about America that Obama hates? Specifically.

What is it about the gay and transgender agenda that Obama loves? Specifically.

He is a true believer in one world government and the trans humanist agenda.

Trans humanist means what it sounds like—no more humans.

To have a world with no more humans requires no more babies which means that any sexual practice that produces children must be reduced and eventually eliminated.

Trans humanist—remember the term. You will be hearing more and more about it.

>>Milk had sex with Jim Jones. Jones also raped/”seduced” the doc who made the poison punch.

It's amazing how the Homosexual "community"'s social engeers manufacture one delusional barrel of laughs after another:

"We should challenge the image of Temple members as mindless, uneducated zombies, and instead, portray them as the passionate, loyal and committed people who inspired Harvey Milk. "
http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=16566

Nimitz was one of the greatest military leaders ever to have served this country. I put him up there with Washington from a military leadership perspective.

After Pearl Harbor, the morale was extremely low in the staff at Pearl who had served under Adm. Husband Kimmel. The stink of association was on them, and they all knew that their mere association with him might mean the end of any further advancement, so they were depressed and brooding. When Nimitz took over, one of the first things he did was get the entire staff of officers together, and tell them he was keeping them on. IIRC, he said they could ask for transfers if they wished, but he hoped they would stay, because he expected they could do a fine job and help win the war in their current jobs.

It was like an elixir. I don’t recall if anyone left, but those men loved him for it, and they worked their asses off to live up to his trust and generosity.

I also loved two other stories about him (I hope I remember them correctly):

Nimitz was the commanding officer of a cruiser (the Augusta, I believe) and took the helm from a junior officer as the ship was coming in to dock without the aid of any tugs. He misjudged both his speed and approach, and only a full reverse and luck saved him from a damaging encounter with the pier. After the ship was safely tied up, he turned to face the junior officer he had assumed the helm from, and said in a direct and unwavering, severe tone of voice something like “Lt. Smith, what did I do wrong?” Lt. Smith gulped, and then proceeded to critique his commanding officer’s performance. When he was done, Capt. Nimitz said “That’s right. Don’t forget it.” It is probable that young Lt. never, ever forgot those concepts when docking a ship, and was likely very good at it. And it isn’t too hard to predict just how he felt about his commanding officer after that. One can easily see this officer telling the story to other people over the years, and ending with “I never served under a finer man. I would have done anything for him.”

The other thing (as you referenced in your excellent post, cva66snipe) was that he was well known for was his penchant for taking each case of poor performance in a task on its own merits, and not administering discipline for a given infraction simply because that was the punishment called for or it was the way others did it. As you said, he escaped the “traditional” punishment for grounding a ship (relief of command and end of career which even to this day, is almost always simply a done deal) as a young officer in the Philippines when he ran aground. As he progressed in his career, he remembered that, and one of his fondest sayings was “Every dog deserves a second bite.” One can only imagine all those dogs who got that “second bite” who would have done anything never to let Nimitz down after that.

A great man, and if any man ever deserved to have a super carrier named after him, it was Chester Nimitz.

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