The US Navy is renaming two of its vessels as part of ongoing efforts to cut ties with Confederate history.

     The former USNS Maury, an oceanographic survey ship, has been re-named the USNS Marie Thorp, in honor of Marie Tharp, an oceanographer who first mapped the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The Navy also renamed the warship formerly known as USS Chancellorsville to the USS Robert Smalls, honoring an enslaved sailor for the Confederates during the Civil War who later went on to serve South Carolina as a US congressman.

     The USNS Marie Thorp was previously named after former Navy Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, who refused to fight against his home state of Virginia and resigned during the Civil War to join the Confederate Army.

by Ens. Susanna J Rogers, Amphibious Squadron 8 Public Affairs Officer

     The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (BATARG), comprising Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19), and Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) successfully integrated with the 26th Marine Expeditionary (MEU) and Amphibious Squadron 8 (PHIBRON 8) during the PHIBRON-MEU Integration (PMINT) exercise, which concluded on Feb. 5, 2023.

     During the nearly two-week underway the group successfully completed multiple visit, board, search, and seizure (VBSS) raids, on-shore and off-shore missions, flight operations, simulated strait transits, live fire exercises, and other full mission profiles integrating Navy and Marine efforts to display the BATARG’s capabilities as a lethal expeditionary strike force ready to respond at all times.

     The United States Navy operates the world’s most capable submarine fleets. Its undersea fleet includes four separate classes of vessels including both attack submarines as well as ballistic missile submarines that are capable of carrying nuclear-armed ballistic missiles and which serve as the most survivable leg of the U.S. military’s nuclear triad.

     The U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet is also unique in that it is composed entirely of nuclear-powered undersea vessels.

     Some of the Navy’s most valuable undersea assets, however, are its four ballistic missile submarines that have been configured to carry and launch a large number of Tomahawk cruise missiles.

     Hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) recently arrived in Cartagena, Colombia, in support of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet’s Continuing Promise 2022 (CP22) mission.

     This visit marks the third of five mission stops as part of CP22 and the eleventh visit to Colombia since 2007.

PIRAEUS, Greece - The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99) recently arrived in Piraeus, Greece, near the city of Athens, for a scheduled port visit.

Farragut’s port visit to Piraeus provides an opportunity to strengthen the existing partnership between the U.S. and Greece. While anchored, the crew will have opportunities to explore the cities and cultures of Piraeus and the nearby city of Athens.

This past month, the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush relieved the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Ionian Sea, after the the two flattops conducted dual operations in the Mediterranean….

Master Chief James Honea recently became the Navy’s 16th chief petty officer of the Navy during a ceremony at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Honea, a sailor for 35 years, most recently served as the senior enlisted leader for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and was described by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday as having “saltwater running through his veins,” according to a video recording of the ceremony posted online.