USS Harvey Milk
We told you more than four years ago that Ray Mabus had run out of names of heroic former Navy/Marine Corps folks for ships’ names and he was considering naming one after gay rights icon Harvey Milk. Well, USNI News reports that day is here;
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.
The Secretary of the Navy’s office is deferring releasing additional information until the naming announcement, a Navy official told USNI News on Thursday.
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.
Naming a ship after Milk, “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,” said Milk’s nephew Stuart Milk in a statement to San Diego LGBT Weekly in 2012.
Category: Navy
I thought the highest ideal for the Navy was defending our country, not pandering to spoiled brat social morons.
What unadulterated BULLSHYT!…makes me ashamed to say I was in the Navy!! What the hell are they commissioning more ships for when the asshole in the white house keeps sending them to drydock saying he has wasted so much money they can’t pay for them in action?
First!!
Oh wait, wrong thread.
Insert seaman jokes here.
An oiler, eh? Apropos.
(Insert “lube job” joke here.)
ROFL
Yep. Sean Penn with a mouthful of nuts. Jeez.
My favorite Penn character was “Jeff Spicoli” from “Fast Times At Ridgemont High”. Can we name a ship after Spicoli?..”Aloha Mr. Hand”. Sorry I keep having 80s flashbacks.
I LoL’d.
Beat me to it and I wasn’t even in the Navy.
Me too. Late again
Words fail me.
Same here… Mabus has fucked the Navy up to the nth degree.
Feel sorry for the next SECNAV… gonna be spending years unfucking the “social justice” done to the Navy and Marine Corps
eggsactly…
Wonder what their breakaway song will be.
In the Navy by the Village People?
That would be Fabulous, MC!
😉
That would be delicious. By the way, I feel sorry for the Sailors assigned to that ship. They are gonna catch so much shit
Are they going to have a YMCA on board as well?
It could be worse. The Navy might name an oiler “The Bernath”. It runs out of fuel, crashes and will try to litigate five continents for impleading its right of way.
p.s And a Chelsea Klintock for president bumper sticker.
So when are they going to lay the keel for the USS CAITLYN JENNER?
Or the USS OPRAH WINFREY?
Or the USS RICHARD SIMMONS?
Or the USS KIM KARDASHIAN?
Or the USS LIBERACE?
Or the…
The USS Rock Hudson? I was PRAYING that this was a Duffel Blog or Onion gag, I gotta go puke…
Me, too.
When my buddy told me about this latest nonsense from Mabus this morning, I accused him point blank of making this up as some sort of sick prank.
Jenner is a Republican so I don’t see that happening anytime soon.
Good point.
Looks like we’ll have to go with the USS ELLEN DEGENERES or the USS RUPAUL instead.
I really feel for the guys whose first plank is from the Milk.
You know that they’ll be called “Milk-toasts” in every bar in every port of call in the world, and have to fight their way out.
You just had to go there, didn’t you, GB?
just sayin’, Ex-PH2, just sayin’
I have nephews and former Scouts in the U.S. Navy, and I just pray they never get assigned there.
Damned near as bad as a boy being named Sue, eh GB?
Remember the pink submarine? Or the boy named Sue? Might end up being the toughest ship and sailors in the Navy!
They’d “have to get tough or die,” as Johnny sang.
Those who managed to survive assignment to the Milk-toast would be recruited by the Marines.
Wow what else can I say!?
Milk duds
Milk Bones.
Internet winner.
I totally feel for the sailors on board this ship. I served during the Vietnam War and back then there were some nicknames for some ships that were not to becoming. I would hope that President Trump can have some influence and get the name this ship changed.
My God what has happened to my Navy. I remember when you served on a ship and it had a proud significant history attached.
heavy sigh
But this does have a significant history attached, ocean12. It’s just buried in this episode of Raymie Maybe’s need to feel good about himself before he goes swishing off into the sunset.
Now, if the ship had been named the Harriet Tubman or Sojourner Smith or even Rosa Parks, I could go along with that, or better yet, M.L. King. Those actually do mean something in history. But this?
Oh, yeah. I would be very, very proud to serve on a ship with any of those names.
Ooops! Sojourner’s last name was ‘Truth’, not ‘Smith’. My bad. Sorry, old girl. My mistake!
IT’S BRAND NEW SHIP, PEOPLE. Give her and her crew a chance!
All we are saying, is give the ship a chance.
Thanks — I absolutely despise that bastard.
It could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy, and we could end up with injured or dead sailors because of it. I don’t like the name either, but I care very much about the sailors who will be her crew.
Well, he’s dead. There must be some consolation in that.
Milk was not a civil rights leader, he was just a guy that got murdered at work. Soon we will have the USS Al Sharpton, the USS Jesse Jackson, the USS Black Lives Matter, etc. Political correctness is ruining America.
Maybe my memory is screwed, but I remember when Milk was killed and the headlines were to the effect “SF MAYOR MOSCONE KILLED BY GUNMAN” and in fine print much lower was “City Councilman also shot” … there was almost no emphasis on Milk and all on Moscone. Before Hollyweird made the movie, there probably weren’t 20 straight folks outside CA who ever heard of Harvey Milk. Anyone who cares to refute this, feel free – to me this is revisionist selectivist history in action.
See my earlier cmt below. Milk was not a martyr for the cause. That is a construct of those who would have him be just that. Jumpmaster is on the money. Milk was a guy who got murdered at work.
Harvey Milk getting elected from the Castro was about as remarkable as a chinese guy getting elected from Chinatown.
It might also be pointed out that an unintended consequence of the Moscone/Milk shooting was that it put Dianne Feinstein into Moscone’s slot as mayor which led to her getting elected to the U.S. Senate.
You mean ACTUAL “workplace violence”?
‘Now, if the ship had been named the Harriet Tubman or Sojourner Smith or even Rosa Parks, I could go along with that, or better yet, M.L. King. Those actually do mean something in history.’ Yes, I could definitely support naming a ship after any of these.
Name one after the Reverend Al? How would you like to be on that ship’s ‘shakedown’ cruise? He’s a waste of space, breathing air I might someday need.
Dude’s always on a shakedown cruise……
All of this wacko, inappropriate ship-naming nonsense really got rolling back in 2012 when Mabus got away with naming Littoral Combat Ship 10 (LCS-10) as the USS GABRIELLE GIFFORDS.
I’m sorry that Ms. Giffords was shot in the head by a raving lunatic, but I’ve never been able to understand how or why that horrible experience somehow qualifies her to have a U.S. Navy ship named after her.
It seems to me that some of the recent USN and USMC Medal of Honor recipients would be more appropriate candidates.
Yup. Once they run out of recipients of USN/USMC MOH, Navy Cross, and Silver Star, THEN we can consider someone else.
Ditto. The number of men and women of valor whose names could be used for Navy ships is very extensive. This was simply a run amok PC Navy ‘leadership’ kissing its way even further up the food chain. Going out on a limb here, but I don’t believe most of those making these outlandish decisions are truly liberal. They are simply going along to get along. They know who butters their bread. It’s not possible for there to have been such a major change in leadership mentality in the past 30 or so years. It’s like a 180. It’s not possible. Simply sucking their way up the food chain, going along to get along. AKA lack of true stones. Sad
Please tell me that this is from “The Duffel Blog”. If not, were fucked, you can’t un-ring that bell I’m afraid.
Sorry, I accidently hit report instead of reply!
The bell has already been rung when they started naming ships after people like Cesar Chavez and Gabby Giffords. Chavez, btw, said that his two years in the Navy were the worst years of his life….so let’s give him the honor of having a ship named after him!
Chavez was and is an embarrassment to Mexicans everywhere.
He did have a bigger to commitment to secure borders than the entire democrat party, though!
I’m glad I got out in late 76……even though I was a young and dumb shitbird at the time….I was a STRAIGHT young and dumb shitbird!!!
LSD-35 what a trip.
AZRobert
Geezzzzzzz. The only comfort I can take from this is Milk at least served in the Navy honorably, unlike John Lewis.
Last I checked we have bunch of living Navy and Marine Corps MOH recipients. Including one that Jumped on a grenade.
Lost in the idolizing of the famous sodomite Harvey Milk is that there is nothing supporting the “fact” that he was killed because he was queer. Nothing. Two people were shot and killed by Dan White that day in 1978: the mayor and Milk. White had resigned as a member of the Board of Supervisors and the was prevailed upon to ‘unresign’ b/c the mayor was going to appoint White’s successor. Milk opposed White’s return and wasn’t quiet about it and the mayor declined to re-seat White. Thus, White was enraged and shot both the mayor and Milk. Queer Harvey was not killed b/c he was gay. In fact, he and Milk were buds. Milk was killed b/c he made a political enemy of a nutjob. BTW, White was convicted of manslaughter, served about five years, and killed himself two years after he was released.
Little known fact: a political ally of Milk’s during his political career was an organization called the “People’s Temple”. Milk in turn was a supporter of the group, going as far as to speak at their rallies and to write a letter to the POTUS claiming that allegations of impropriety regarding the group were “bold-faced lies”.
You might have heard of the People’s Temple. That’s the group led by committed Communist and so-called “Reverend” Jim Jones – of “Jonestown massacre” fame. That was the largest massacre of US civilians in history prior to 9/11. In that atrocity, 918 individuals were deliberately killed – including 276 children.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Temple
Really?
Wow!
I still remember where I was when the Jonestown Massacre happened. Kind of like where were you when Kennedy was assassinated (I remember that too!).
What a tragedy Jonestown was. Unbelievable.
I distinctly remember where I was when I heard JFK was assassinated. I remember when Jonestown occurred, but I don’t remember the date and certainly don’t remember where I was. Jonestown, as horrible as it was, just didn’t rise to the same level as Kennedy’s death.
Yeah, not to me either. I’m pretty sure I can guess the decade but that’s as close as I’ll come. JFK, on the other hand, I know precisely where I was and what I was doing. I was just a lil shaver but I remember watching LHO take one in the gut, too.
I LMAO when I read this Duffel Blog article a few years ago. How long until it becomes a reality?
http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/06/vietnam-veterans-outraged-over-navy-christening-of-uss-jane-fonda/
Shhhh! Shhh! SHHHHHH!
Mabus might hear you!
I was stationed at NAS Barbers Point back in the 80s. I still remember the display of Jane Fonda exercise tapes in the NEX. The only time they were touched was when an NEX employee dusted them off.
Kinda surprised they didn’t get “accidentally” dropped and stepped on from time to time . . . .
Passed this story along to two of my Navy co-workers.
And may G-d have mercy on any MEN that are forced to serve aboard that “boat”.
As an oiler, if it goes into the 5th Fleet AO it will have a 12 man Embarked Security Team put on it. The name alone may cause PTSD to team members. (I was EST mission commander on USNS Joshua Humphreys AO-188).
I’m sure the Democrats will milk this story for all it’s worth…
Rimshot
Rim-something…
Civil rights leaders, huh? Well, Raymie Maybe has a poor understanding of history, so here’s a little help for him.
Frederick Douglass – abolitionist, 1st African-American to hold a high government office. “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”
John Brown – abolitionist, led the raid on Harper’s Ferry
Sojourner Truth – abolitionist and women’s rights activist
Jane Addams – pioneer social activist, leader in women’s suffrage movement
Harriet Tubman – American abolitionist, humanitarian, and an armed scout and spy for the United States Army during the American Civil War.
Mabus, you make me want to spray-sneeze right in your face.
I agree, one would think they would name the ship after someone that y’know actually did something for civil rights.
There’s a longer list of people.
This is just sickening. It spits in the face of real civil rights efforts.
My grandmother’s second husband’s paternal grandfather was a fellow named, Robert Hall Pearson. He rode with John Brown at the Battle of Black Jack, near Baldwin, Kansas in 1856. I think I should petition for his name on this vessel.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Black_Jack
Absolutely. I find the entire thing offensive in the extreme. HMilk did nothing for civil rights, period.
Those other people I listed were active in pursuing those rights, and Harriet Tubman, as indicated above, acted on behalf of the United States Army.
If anyone deserves the ‘first naming’ privilege, it is she.
Have to disagree about John Brown, who was a terrorist. He murdered Kansas citizens in several vigilante attacks, including 5/26/56 and 6/2/56, as well as his attempt at instigating insurrection and race war at Harper’s Ferry. His violent actions helped convince the South that Northern radical abolitionists were determined to destroy the South.
Please note this condemnation of Brown does not imply any sympathy with or respect for pro-slave terrorists of that time.
Sorry, Ex-PH2 and NormanS, but I have to disagree about John Brown.
While morally correct concerning slavery, what John Brown and his followers did at Harper’s Ferry was nothing short of literally being treason. Treason, as in “meets the Constitutional definition of treason.”
There is no way in hell I can support naming a ship – or anything else – after someone who was literally a traitor to his nation, regardless of their motivation.
SECNAV Ray Mabus, a worthless governor of Mississippi and general liberal scumbag, names ships after:
– A homosexual activist with minimal, yet honorable Navy service
– A Latino labor activist who hated his Navy service
– A congresswoman who was shot in the head and who never served in the military
– A corrupt congresscritter who called the Marines in Haditha murderers
This administration can’t leave soon enough. Every time I ask “what next,” the answer is worse than anything I’ve ever imagined. I feel so sorry for the men and women who will have to serve on that oiler, which will have a spate of nasty nicknames.
Wasn’t Mabus name-dropped as a plague casualty on “The Last Ship?”
Now THAT’S funny…and even funnier if it happened.
I think I just threw up in my mouth.
That’s not so bad, Sparks. I was in a bar once and two inebriates, a young man and woman, were making out. I heard a commotion and learned that the young lady had just upchucked INTO the fella’s mouth.
Did he notice?
He ordered another beer to clean out the taste and went back to it.
Chunky kisses.
He noticed but was heard to ask, “Which one of us just puked?”
Oh…my…GOD!
USS Milk Toast
USS Cocksucker will be the next in line for the John Lewis-class oilers.
That’s the nickname for the Milk, I think.
“The Floating Fag”?
Maybe, API. But my money’s on what ex-OS2 came up with ending up being the Milk’s informal nickname.
I bet the guys down at NASSCO are working extra-hard to make this hull–oh, sorry, I forgot that they’re “seaframes” now–that carries the name of such a great American martyr (who was felled by a stray bullet intended for someone else) the highest-quality ship they’ve ever turned out…yeah, no.
I bet Lars is drooling for the opportunity to be included in the ceremonial ship launching and be asked to break “The Flaming Cocksmack” cocktail over the hull.
I used to work down there, Believe it not the workers NEVER refer to the Ships by name it’s alway by Hull number or class and number. Example 501 or T-AKE-14. Sometimes it will be by the company who orders the ship . BP-1 (British Petroleum-1)
Not to worry, people! The Navy is going to return 40 square miles of land to the government of Japan on the island of Okinawa.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-usa-okinawa-idUSKCN1090KY
Couldn’t come at a better time, could it?
Contest: Best ship’s nickname
There are some great candidates already listed-
Milk Toast
Cocksucker
Milk Duds
Milk Bones
USS Ass Bone
USS Vaseline
Call sign KY-69.
USS Daisy Chain
Goat Milk
Milk was a swim instructor in the Navy. He made sure all of his students showered after a swim. It is said that soap-on-a-rope was invented because of him.
I heard he only allowed powdered soap in the showers.
Harvey Milk, friend of the Jim Jones nutjobs.
The most unbelievable part of this is that they simply couldn’t think of anyone more deserving.
Welcome to the fleet USS Man Milk
You win the Intertubez today. 😀
There we were, steaming up the dredged channel of the Brown River, looking for the port of entry. A Sperm Whale riding our wake……
…There were Seamen all over the place…
Suddenly the Captain reached around me to grab the rudder….
Someone yelled “dutch”!
While we passed under the Hershey Highway Bridge
A rainbow parade crossing the bridge halted to admire our stern as we slowed for the waiting tug that would ease us into port.
I can picture what could happen during Sea trials “Yesterday the USS Harvey Milk was attacked by a gay Sperm Whale that was trying to bite the hull open and swallow the Seamen on board.”
Then there’s the one all important portion of an UNREP. That point where you stick the probe in the receiver.
Paints a whole new picture of the line gun launching the monkey fist to haul that span line.
On the Man Milk, stand by for fisting.!
That’s sick.
yeah, I get that a lot.
“Prepare to receive shot lines both fore and aft”
Breakaway songs all by Erasure.
Liberace
And USS Milk’s Captain’s Gig name? Boy-Butter.
For the Nautically Challenged, “boy butter” is Navy slang for a light weapons and electronics grease.
I am nautically averse. My wife recently mentioned our going on a cruise. I said, “Have fun. I’m flying. Where shall we meet?”
2/17 – If you’ve never done a cruise; you should do at least one. The spousal unit and I have done three and we’ve enjoyed them all (Alaska, Western Carib and Eastern Carib). You gotta try at least one.
I would if they weren’t on the water. Other than that, I know that many folks enjoy them and I’m not knocking them. It’s just all that water.
A cruise ship is a horrible place to be when the zompocolyps starts.
For info on the particular horrors of such a horrible event, ref: the series of books that starts with Under a Graveyard Sky.
Welcome aboard the USS Milk. The ship is named for the late Harvey Milk, the first politician ever to come out as gay. (Actually, as I heard it, Milk was at a Board of Supervisors meeting in Frisco one evening when he turned to his aide, unaware that his mike was open, and said, “Get me a chair donut, will you? Man my ass hurts. Four guys in one afternoon was at least one too many.” The rest, as they say, is history.)
“Prepare for boarding.”
If a ship could sink in dry dock, I’d wish that on it, but I won’t. It might have people on board.
It seems to me that ships do get renamed occasionally.
probably will be assigned an all queer crew with a tranny skipper….so glad I did my time when I did in the 70’s(Nixon, Ford & Carter)….electing Clinton will just be a continuation of this blasphemous sodomite social experiment nonsense started by Obama
“Ran out of heroes”? Smells like another big disinformation rollout!
Since WHEN would B. Hussein 0bama & Company want to name something after a *GASP* Heterosexual White Male?
,,,or a black humanitarian woman who acted on behalf of the Union Army?
Non sibi sed patriae??
I’m guessing home port will be San Francisco or Key West. This is my face palm regarding the politically (in)correct crap taking place in the military. One experiment after another, kowtowing to the liberal slugs. Trying to make the military a replica of the civilian sector. I guess the ship will go by the nickname ‘USS Hershey Highway’.
Would make a great “ferry” between San Fran and Oakland…
Of course! The Fairy Ferry! You coulda been champ.
Had a guy on FB try to tell me he was a hero. When I replied he was not a hero he wrote, he served in the military and was killed furthering the cause of civil rights. I replied that he was killed by a disgruntled former city employee and his death had nothing to do with civil rights. No further replies. I never saw the movie but I imagine it had a lot to do with this false image of the guy.
My old man is undoubtedly spinning in his grave. USN WW11 Sailor.
Just think, every future deployment will be a Milk run…
“Personnel will immediately cease and desist from referring to the USS Harvey Milk as Elsie the Cow, the Bath House, and Boy Boat.”
——————————————-
Applications are now being accepted for leadership positions aboard the USS Harvey Milk. Gays and transgenders are strongly encouraged to apply.
2/17AirCav, you left out the Gay Galley Gig. (Oh, that is SO mean on my part. I am such a bad, bad girl.)
I’m sorry but LT JG Milquetoast is not deserving of having a ship named after him regardless of his sexual whatever (not sure of the correct PC term).
There should be some connection to heroic military service in my humble opinion…
His military service record and being a civil servant in San Fran does not warrant this honor.
Community organizing and STUMPING for gay rights doesn’t RISE to the level we would expect to have his name gracing the hull of any Navy VESSEL…
Yeah, that’s right I said it!
The USS Harvey Milk. The new Fag Ship of the Navy.
Imagine the confusion when they get on the 1MC and say, “Milk, arriving.”
Is that the CO or are they calling away a stores load?
I can only imagine what’s going to happen in the Goat Locker…
Funny.
Harvey Milk actually destroyed the life of a good combat Marine by forcefully outing him against his wishes because Milk thought the political benefits would be useful. See “Oliver Sipple” on Wikipedia.
Harvey Milk was an opportunist who happened to be gay. Oliver Sipple was a good Marine who happened to be gay, and regrettably an acquaintance of Harvey Milk.
I wonder if the berthing contains the usual rack arrangements or if this vessel will instead incorporate the game of Twister into the sleeping arrangements.
Hmm. Maybe on the Milk they’ll play “Man on the Moon” instead of “Taps”.
“Lets play Twister, let’s play Risk
Hey hey hey hey”
Which, come to think of it, could be considered apropos given the ship’s namesake: a political opportunist who happened to be gay, political ally of Communists like Jim Jones of “People’s Temple” fame, and willing to destroy another gay man’s life by publicly outing him against his wishes because it would “further the cause”.
FB commenter Richard Ferree barks, “Get it straight….it is NOT a USS naval ship but a USNS.” Okay. Well, whatever it is, it’s gay as shit Richard.
Yeah, we get it Richard. USNS vs USS … Either way, the ship is owned by the US Navy.