MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — A United States Navy ship named for a Navy veteran and gay civil rights icon is going to be renamed, just as Pride month begins in America.

It's the USNS Harvey Milk, a John Lewis class oiler that is currently drydocked for repairs at Alabama Shipyard in Mobile.

It was also rumored that other ships, named after Supreme Court justices and celebrated civil rights icons, may also be renamed at the direction of new Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

According to the website military.com the Secretary of the Navy received the orders to rename the vessel from Hegseth, an official saying the timing of the announcement was intentionally intended to occur during what's known as "Pride Month" in America.

The USNS Harvey Milk came to Mobile in January for a $24 million overhaul at Alabama Shipyard on the Mobile River - work that was expected to be finished by June.

The ship can be seen on the east bank of the Mobile River, across the river from the S.S. United States.

The vessel was named in memory of Harvey Milk, who served in the United States Navy as a diving officer during the Korean War until he was forced out due to his sexuality.

He went on to become a gay rights activist who served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors until he was murdered by another city official in 1978.

The Associated Press reports the name change was laid out in an internal memo that officials said defended the action as a move to align with President Donald Trump and Hegseth's objectives to “re-establish the warrior culture.”

Former Mississippi governor and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus named the vessel the USNS Harvey Milk in 2016.

No word as of Tuesday what the vessel's new name will be, but word about the change comes less than two weeks before Mobile's LGBTQ community celebrates Pride Month during June's downtown Art Walk.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the move spiteful and that it "does not strengthen our national security or the 'warrior' ethos."

"It is a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream," she said.