On November 6 the Navy christened the USNS Harvey Milk (T-AO-206). The ship is the newest John Lewis class Underway Replenishment Oiler and will be operated by Military Sealift Command with a civilian crew. LTJG Harvey Milk was a diving officer and diver during the Korean War and resigned his commission when he was forced out, rather than being court-martialed, for homosexuality. It has taken the Navy too long to admit that too many good personnel were forced out over the decades for being homosexual but I am will to accept this as a sign of progress. It is certainly also my hope the this will make some RMNJ keyboard warriors heads explode. The launch of the USNS Cesar Chavez hopefully started them on that path. Ships like these don’t get the publicity that commissioned warships get and that is why, unfortunately, they are the ships named for important people who might possibly ruffle right-wing feathers. The howls of dismay when a fast attack sub was commissioned the USS Jimmy Carter provoked a smile on my part.
LTJG Harvey Milk, 1954
Ships like these are not the flashy ones that are used for all manner of war-porn images but they are absolutely vital to naval operations. As has been observed by millennia of military strategists brilliant leadership and acts of heroism will win battles but logistics and supply lines are what win wars. The ability of these ships to resupply warships while they are at sea is an important role and, having witnessed the crew of one of these ships in action, an amazing sight to see. To describe the crew of a replenishment ship as a well-oiled machine is to damn them with faint praise. I watched cruiser be re-supplied in less than 12 hours with everything from ammunition to canned hams.