# Navy to Rename Ships with Confederate Names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 28, 2023, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-to-rename-ships-with-confederate-names/980476 "2023-02-28T10:11:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_was_in_Saudi)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-to-rename-ships-with-confederate-names/980476/1 "2023-02-28T10:11:18Z")
[Well, really only one ship it seems.](https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2023/02/28/navy-to-change-name-of-warship-honoring-confederate-battle-victory/) USS _Chancellorsville,_ a guided missile cruiser. Although it is traditionally bad luck to rename a ship, this is certainly called for. This one seems to be fated to become the USS _Planter,_ a fine name, or perhaps the USS _Robert Smalls,_ unusual for a cruiser. The story of [Smalls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smalls) is well worth your time. (My, that is a poorly-worded title as it seems to say both what it ought to say as well as its exact opposite.) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-to-rename-ships-with-confederate-names/980476/2 "2023-02-28T10:31:49Z")
I agree that renaming a ship with a Confederate association to the _USS Robert Smalls_ would be fitting indeed, particularly given his appropriation of a Confederate warship to the benefit of the Union side. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-to-rename-ships-with-confederate-names/980476/3 "2023-02-28T11:13:07Z")
> [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > (My, that is a poorly-worded title as it seems to say both what it ought to say as well as its exact opposite.) You could ask a mod to change the title to _Ships with Confederate names to be renamed_. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-to-rename-ships-with-confederate-names/980476/4 "2023-02-28T14:12:38Z")
The word “planter” being a synonym for “Southern US antebellum plantation owner” seems to make that choice of replacement name rather like the OP’s title. Namely that it’s able to be spun by both sides as a victory. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2023, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/navy-to-rename-ships-with-confederate-names/980476/5 "2023-02-28T21:29:33Z")
Great idea, and I always liked Smalls’s audacity since I first read about it many years ago. > [@Paul\_was\_in\_Saudi](#): > > …Although it is traditionally bad luck to rename a ship… And yet it’s happened a lot in US Navy history, back to the earliest days. Just a few examples: > **[USS Intrepid (1798)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Intrepid_(1798))** > > The first USS Intrepid was a captured ketch in the United States Navy during the First Barbary War. > Intrepid was built in France in 1798 for Napoleon's Egyptian expedition. The vessel was sold to Tripoli, which she served as Mastico. The bomb ketch was one of several Tripolitan vessels which captured Philadelphia on 31 October 1803 after the American frigate had run fast aground on uncharted Kaliusa reef some five miles (8 km) east of Tripoli. > USS Enterprise, a schooner with Lt. Stephen Decat... > **[USS St. Louis (1828)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_St._Louis_(1828))** > > USS St. Louis was a sloop-of-war in the United States Navy through most of the 19th century. > St. Louis was laid down on 12 February 1827 at the Washington Navy Yard; launched on 18 August 1828; and commissioned on 20 December 1828, Master Commandant John D. Sloat in command. > On the day of her commissioning, St. Louis got underway and proceeded to Norfolk, Virginia, for final outfitting. She departed Hampton Roads on 14 February 1829 and headed for Havana, Cuba. Thence, she proceeded, via Rio de... > **[USS Essex (1856)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Essex_(1856))** > > USS Essex was a 1000-ton ironclad river gunboat of the United States Army and later United States Navy during the American Civil War. It was named for Essex County, Massachusetts. USS Essex was originally constructed in 1856 at New Albany, Indiana as a steam-powered ferry named New Era. > In September 1861 New Era was purchased by the United States Army for use in its Western Gunboat Flotilla and was modified into a 355-ton timberclad gunboat. In November 1861 USS New Era took part in an expeditio... > **[Laurent Millaudon (steamboat)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Millaudon_(1856))** > > Laurent Millaudon was a wooden side-wheel river steamboat launched at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1856 operating in the New Orleans, Louisiana, area, and captained by W. S. Whann. At the beginning of the American Civil War she was taken into service by the Confederate Navy as CSS General Sterling Price. On 6 June 1862, she was sunk at the Battle of Memphis. She was raised and repaired by the Union army, and on 16 June 1862 was moved into Union service as USS General Price and served until the end of t... > **[USS Kearsarge (BB-5)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kearsarge_(BB-5))** > > USS Kearsarge (BB-5), was a pre-dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy and lead ship of her class of battleships. She was named after the sloop-of-war Kearsarge, famous for sinking the CSS Alabama, and was the only United States Navy battleship not named after a state. > Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Virginia, on 30 June 1896. She was launched on 24 March 1898, sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Winslow (née Maynard), the wife of Rear Admiral Herbert Win... > **[USS Procyon (AG-11)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Procyon_(AG-11))** > > USS Procyon (AG–11) was an Antares-class cargo ship in the United States Navy after World War I. She later served as a training vessel for the Merchant Marine Academy as Empire State. In 1940 the ship was returned to the United States Maritime Commission, was renamed American Pilot, and sailed under the American flag during World War II. She was scrapped in 1948. > Procyon was built in 1919 by the American International Shipbuilding Corp., Hog Island, Pennsylvania, and launched as the SS Shaume; t...