USS Chancellorsville (CG-62), USNS Maury (T-AGS-66) US Navy Photos
Two Navy ships christened with names tied to the Confederacy should be renamed, according to the commission tasked with purging Confederate names from the Department of Defense.
According to the latest report released on Tuesday, The Naming Commission recommended new names for Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) and the oceanographic survey ship USNS Maury (T-AGS-66).
The Japan-based cruiser commissioned in 1989 was named for an overwhelming 1863 Confederate victory in Virginia while the survey ship was Matthew Fontaine Maury who joined the Confederacy after a long career with the U.S. Navy in which he laid much of the modern foundation of meteorology and navigation.
The hull of the cruiser contains minié balls and shell fragments from the battle, USA Today reported in 1988. As of at least 2016, the ship’s wardroom held a painting of Lee and Jackson.
Oceanographic ship Maury delivered in 2016.
Unlike the Army, which named several bases in the South after Confederate officers starting around World War I, the Navy has much less to consider as part of the renaming process.
A separate report released last month recommended renaming a building at the Naval Academy named for Maury and a road and a building named for the first Superintendent Franklin Buchanan who joined the Confederacy and rose to the rank of rear admiral.