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Alabama company will perform maintenance on naval ship named after murdered gay rights activist

Posted on by Vaseline
Alabama company will perform maintenance on naval ship named after murdered gay rights activist

Alabama Shipyard LLC of Mobile has been selected to perform maintenance on the U.S. Navy’s new oil tanker, the USNS Harvey Milk.

The company was awarded a $24,527,535 firm-fixed-price contract to perform Post-Shakedown Availability (PSA) on the oiler, which will provide fuel to the Navy’s surface combatant ships at sea, according to a report from the Military and defense industry news from Alabama website AlaDefense.com.

The contract includes extension options for additional work and time beyond the current base period, which could bring the total value to nearly $26 million.

According to the Navy’s website, a PSA is assigned to correct deficiencies found during the maiden cruise of a newly built or activated ship or to accomplish other authorized improvements. During PSA, the ship undergoes maintenance to repair anything broken during rigorous testing at sea and to complete work not yet completed by the construction yard.

Work on the USNS Harvey Milk will begin Jan. 9, 2025, in Mobile and is expected to be completed by June 22, 2025, AlaDefense said.

The ship, which is the Navy’s first name for an openly gay person, honors Navy veteran and LGBTQ+ activist Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay candidates elected to public office as a member of the San Francisco Board in 1978 or Supervisors, according to the Navy website.

He was assassinated by fellow city supervisor Dan White on November 10, 1978 (10 months after he was sworn in) and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 for his activism.

“The Secretary of the Navy needed to be here today not only to right the wrongs of the past, but to provide inspiration to all of our LGBTQ community leaders who served in the Navy, in uniform today and in the civilian workforce as well. and to tell them that we are committed to them in the future,” said Navy Secretary Carlos Del Torro at the ship’s naming in 2021.

Del Toro noted that Milk resigned and was discharged from the Navy because he was gay.

“For far too long, sailors like Lt. JG Milk were forced into the shadows or, worse, driven from our beloved Navy. That injustice is part of our Navy’s history, but so is the perseverance of all who continue to serve in the face of injustice.”

The USNS Harvey Milk is one of several John Lewis-class oil ships that began construction in 2018, all of which are named after prominent civil rights leaders and activists. The class is named after the lead ship, John Lewis, which has been active since 2022.

The oil companies Earl Warren and Robert F. Kennedy were both baptized in 2023. Sojourner Truth, Lucy Stone, Harriet Tubman and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are some of the names that will be included in the future lineup.

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