USN to rename CHANCELORSVILLE....

[MikeKozlowski]

...To USS Robert Smalls (CG-62).

Mixed feelings here, and I'm going to try and explain why.

Short version - Robert Smalls was a slave in Charleston who worked his way up the docks to become a wheelsman (helmsman in all but name; slaves weren't permitted that title). Got himself and his family aboard the CSN steam gunboat Planter, and made a run for it - and making a stop to pick up more escapees. He headed for the USN blockade line, giving all the correct signals to the CSN posts along the way, and made it out in one piece, along with the code books and maps of the minefields.

He was 23 years old.

Continued to serve with the USN for the rest of the war, and later went on to be a Congressman.

That man absolutely deserves a ship named for him, and it's a genuine disgrace that it hasn't been done sooner.

The difficulty (difficulties, as you'll see) is this:

*Chancelorsville is being decommed in 2026. She may actually never deploy under that name even once. That tells me that this is utterly and overtly political posturing. Put that name on a Burke or Constellation.
*USNS Maury (TAGS-66) will also be renamed. Matthew Maury did groundbreaking work in oceanography and meteorology and designed the first electrically controlled sea mines...but he also ended up strongly supporting the Confederacy and is considered one of the founding fathers of the CSN. Okay, so be it.
*USS John Stennis (CVN-74) is not on the list of ships to be renamed. Senator John Stennis of Mississippi was a huge supporter of the USN, and helped push through appropriations for what became the Nimitz class. He was also an unrepentant segregationist who oversaw a lynching.

Mike

[Simon Darkshade]

As you say, the name is absolutely well suited to a new destroyer that can have a long and productive service life, rather than a cruiser on her last legs.

[Rocket J Squrriel]

At least they aren't going to rename the USS Antietam to something else. Couldn't figure out why that was even considered considering it was a Union victory.

[Johnnie Lyle]

At least they aren't going to rename the USS Antietam to something else. Couldn't figure out why that was even considered considering it was a Union victory.

Because this is a stupid exercise by leftist morons who don’t understand how to bind up a nation’s wounds after a civil war - or, more accurately, don’t care.

Renaming CHANCELLORSVILLE is especially stupid because it’s not just Lee hagiography. It’s a battle honor that lots of Union regiments carried, including the descendants of every US Army regiment there, and it saw some incredible bravery and hard fighting by lots of boys in blue.

[kdahm]

There seems to be a certain trend in that crowd to eliminate the Civil in the Civil War and make it into a triumphant conquest by the US of some evil neighbor that the US had no relationship with whatsoever.

Or just eliminate the period of 1855 to 1870 from US history entirely.

[Craiglxviii]

This is why naming ships after towns, counties (states?) or previous ships is far less awkward…

Mind you in the current trend, USS GAY BRUISER* might be welcomed however…

(*yes, it was a real name)

[Belushi TD]

At least they aren't going to rename the USS Antietam to something else. Couldn't figure out why that was even considered considering it was a Union victory.

Because this is a stupid exercise by leftist morons who don’t understand how to bind up a nation’s wounds after a civil war - or, more accurately, don’t care.

And, are completely ignoring the fact that the war in question has been over for more than 150 years.

Belushi TD

[M.Becker]

Mind you in the current trend, USS GAY BRUISER* might be welcomed however…

(*yes, it was a real name)

The day is full of new and interesting information. First a new acronym for a head of government you literally would like to do with what they figuratively do to you and now these partol boats.

BTW, you could make a very gripping movie or tv show about Smalls and you'd not have to to very much artistic license.

[clancyphile]

Mind you in the current trend, USS GAY BRUISER* might be welcomed however…

(*yes, it was a real name)

The day is full of new and interesting information. First a new acronym for a head of government you literally would like to do with what they figuratively do to you and now these partol boats.

BTW, you could make a very gripping movie or tv show about Smalls and you'd not have to to very much artistic license.

Agreed.

Another one would be Duncan Ingraham's bluff/stand at Smyrna in July 1853.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documen ... california
https://destroyerhistory.org/benson-gle ... ?pid=44401

There needs to be a fifth USS INGRAHAM.