Navy renames 2 ships to distance from Confederacy

The U.S. Navy has said it is renaming two of its ships in order to avoid any association with the Confederacy.

A guided-missile cruiser named the Chancellorsville has been renamed Robert Smalls after a Black ship pilot during the Civil War who commandeered a Confederate ship and delivered it into Union hands.

In addition, the USNS Maury has been renamed the USNS Marie Tharp.

“This renaming honors Marie Tharp, a pioneering geologist and oceanographic cartographer who created the first scientific maps of the Atlantic Ocean floor and shaped our understanding of plate tectonics and continental drift,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro stated.

Confederate naval officer Matthew Maury was considered the father of the science of oceanography, according to Military.com.

The military has been trying to erase all Confederacy-related names and history from its operations, even though some see the actions as an erasure of history.