Philippine Sea - Sept 2019: Sailors aboard the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) - now the USS Robert Smalls - conduct a replenishment-at-sea with the dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Carl Brashear (T-AKE 7). (Navy photo by MCS 1st Class Jeremy Graham). The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.
By: FEDweek StaffThe Navy is giving a new name to a vessel that previously recognized a Confederate victory during the Civil War. The guided missile cruiser Chancellorsville will now be called the USS Robert Smalls, after a sailor and stateman who was born a slave in South Carolina.
The record shows that Smalls was conscripted to serve on the Confederate steamer Planter in 1862. When he had the chance, Smalls disguised himself as the ship’s captain, commandeering the vessel and his own family and that of other crew members through Charleston harbor, surrendering to the Union blockade just offshore.
He went on to serve through the Civil War as captain of both the Smalls and the ironclad Keokuk. After the war, he became a brigadier general in the South Carolina state militia and served in the state legislature.
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