00:00Well, I'm pleased to officially announce that the Department of the Navy is renaming the Fleet Replenishment Euler,
00:05formerly known as the USNS Harvey Milk, to the USNS Oscar V. Peterson.
00:14We are taking the politics out of ship naming.
00:18We're not renaming the ship to anything political.
00:21This is not about political activists, unlike the previous administration.
00:24Instead, we're renaming the ship after a United States Navy Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, as it should be.
00:35People want to be proud of the ship they're sailing in.
00:38And so we're renaming it after a chief, a Navy chief.
00:43That during the Battle of the Coral Sea in May of 1942, Chief Watertender Peterson led a repair party on the USS Neosho.
00:52The ship was severely damaged by Japanese dive bombers, and the entire repair party was either killed or severely wounded.
00:58Peterson himself was gravely wounded, yet he managed to single-handedly close the bulkhead stop valves, thereby helping to keep the ship operational.
01:08In performing his historic actions and heroic actions, Peterson received additional injuries and burns, which tragically resulted in his death.
01:16But his spirit of self-sacrifice and concern for his crewmates was in keeping with the finest traditions of the Navy.
01:23And for his heroic actions, Oscar Peterson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
01:29So I would like to officially welcome the USNS Oscar V. Peterson to the Navy's Vessel Register.
