USNS Harvey Milk

USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206) is the second of the John Lewis-class replenishment oiler of underway replenishment oilers, operated by the Military Sealift Command (MSC) to support ships of the United States Navy.

In July 2016, Ray Mabus, then United States Secretary of the Navy, advised Congress that he intended to name the John Lewis-class oilers after prominent civil rights leaders, with this ship to be named in honor of gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

The ship was officially named at a ceremony in San Francisco on 16 August 2016. Though Milk was gay, this ship is not the first US Navy ship named for an openly gay person, as that would be the WWI troopship USS Von Steuben (ID-3017), commissioned in 1917 and named for a revolutionary war hero and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.

Namesake
Milk served in the US Navy during the Korean War aboard USS Kittiwake (ASR-13), a submarine rescue ship, and held the rank of lieutenant (junior grade). In 1955, he was forced to resign and accept an "other than honorable" discharge, rather than face a court martial for his homosexuality.

Construction
Construction for both Harvey Milk, and USNS John Lewis (T-AO-205), the lead ship of the class, was authorized on 30 June 2016. Building got underway for John Lewis in 2018 at General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego.



The first cut of steel for Harvey Milk occurred on 13 December 2019, marking the beginning of construction of the vessel. The ship had her christening ceremony and was then launched on 6 November 2021, with Milk's nephew Stuart Milk, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, and the ship's sponsor, prominent LBGTQ activist Paula Neira, in attendance.

On 11 July 2023, Harvey Milk entered non-commissioned U.S. Navy service under the control of the Military Sealift Command.

Violence onboard the ship
In March 2024, 9 pro-Palestinian protesters attempted to board the ship and create a disturbance. They were stopped at the gangway before they could board; however, they managed to chain themselves to the gangway, until San Francisco Police removed them peacefully. The protesters thought that the cargo fuel ship was carrying weapons to Israel.