All aboard the USS Harvey Milk.

Well, U.S. Navy personnel aboard. This is more major than some cruise vessel; the navy has announced its intention to name a ship after the politician and gay rights icon.

It’s been five years since the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and nearly that entire time Californians (the state where this oiler will be built, and where Milk spent much of his life) have pushed for a ship named for Milk.

Although Milk was murdered in his forties, he had a life with so many chapters that some have been largely forgotten. Beginning in the Korean War, he served in the navy from 1951 to 1955, decades before coming to national prominence. During this time in his early twenties, he served on a submarine rescue ship, where he earned the rank of lieutenant, junior grade.

Beyond this, in addition to being a politician and a small business owner, he held various other jobs; for example, in my family we always discussed that he was a teacher at my mother’s High School (before she attended).

Milk served in the navy not only at a time when queer service-people were forced to remain silent about their orientation, but when the military had an explicitly anti-homosexual agenda. It’s vindicating that now a navy ship will bear the name of a veteran who only after his service could come out and become a gay rights leader.

See? When you let an official naval body name a vessel, sometimes you can get something almost as great as Boaty McBoatface (almost). The next step should be to name a star after Milk and have him join the list of other great Jews with celestial namesakes.

Images: Harvey Milk in naval uniform

The post The Navy Will Name a Ship for Harvey Milk appeared first on Jewcy.

The Israeli Navy has appointed its first ever woman commander of a vessel, Ynet reports. Or Cohen is currently serving as a navigation officer on a missile boat, and will become deputy chief of a Dvora patrol boat once her promotion is officially confirmed. General Ram Rothberg, head of the Israeli navy, has already green-lighted the decision.

“My life’s dream is coming true,” Cohen told Ynet. “I’m very excited and I’m grateful for the opportunity and the trust the senior command has in me. As an IDF officer, I believe in the integration of women into meaningful combat roles and I’m glad that I’ve been given the chance to have influence.”

Read the full story here.

(Image: IDF Spokesperson)

The post Meet Or Cohen, the Israeli Navy’s First Woman Commander appeared first on Jewcy.