Tag Archives: USS Robert Smalls (CG 62)

PoW CSG heads to Japan

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HMS Prince of Wales (R09) and her Battlegroup 25 have left Australia, wrapping up Talisman Sabre, and, linking up with her Spanish escort ESPS Mendez Nunez (F-104), has been joined by the Japanese ships Kaga (DDH-184) and Teruzuki (DD-116) to continue Operation High Mast.

It will be the second British carrier to visit Japan in recent years, following up on sister HMS Queen Elizabeth’s 2021 deployment.

The below from Japan’s MoD.

She carries 19 F-35Bs: 9 from the “Dambusters” of 617 Squadron RAF, 9 from the “Immortals” of 809 Naval Air Squadron, plus a singular U.S. Marine Corps aircraft from the “Bats” of VMFA-242. She also has at least six Merlin Mk2 helicopters of 820 NAS and two HMA2 Wildcats of 815 NAS. This gives her 27 aircraft, the largest wing she has operated thus far.

She has also been conducting night ops, which have produced some great imagery.

Echoes of TF 37 & TF 38

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Some 80 years ago today, carriers of the British Pacific Fleet, organized as TF 37, sailing under the command of ADM Bull Halsey’s U.S. Third Fleet, teamed up with the American carriers of TF 38 to strike targets in the Japanese Home Islands, softening them up for the looming Operation Olympic invasion to begin in November 1945.

It was the end of what was left of the Emperor’s fleet.

Raids on Japan, July 1945. Japanese battleship Haruna under attack by American and British carrier planes in Kure Bay, Japan, July 28, 1945. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-490226

Raids on Japan, July 1945. Japanese battleship Haruna under attack by American and British carrier planes in Kure Bay, Japan, July 28, 1945. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. 80-G-490224

The British task force under VADM Sir Bernard J. Rowlings had four armored carriers (HMS Formidable, Victorious, Implacable, and Indefatigable) loaded with 15 FAA squadrons of Corsairs, Fireflies, and Avengers. They were escorted by a battleship (HMS King George), seven cruisers, including hulls from the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy, and 20 destroyers (six of which were from the Royal Australian Navy).

For those curious, at the same time, VADM John S. McCain’s TF 38 included over a dozen “Sunday Punch” toting Essex-class fleet carriers, another seven Independence-class CVLs, eight fast battleships (including the entire SoDak class), 24 cruisers, and almost too many tin cans to count.

Fast forward to the past few days, and, as part of Talisman Sabre ’25, American and RN carriers sailed together again, backed up by ships from the RCN, RAN, and now joined by a Norwegian.

In the double carrier formation was: the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73), Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls (CG 62) [ex-Chancellorsville], the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG 86), the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09), the Daring-class air-defence destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33), the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tide-class tanker RFA Tidespring (A136), the Royal Australian Navy Hobart-class air warfare destroyer HMAS Sydney (DDG 42), the Royal Norwegian Navy Fridtof Nansen-class frigate HNoMS Roald Amundsen (F311), and the Royal Canadian Navy’s Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332).

Assembled airwings included CVW5’s F-18E/F Rhinos, EA-18G Growlers, F-35Cs, Hawkeyes, and CMV-22 Ospreys; along with 18 British F-35B fighters—from the RAF 617 Squadron “Dambusters” and the 809 Naval Air Squadron “Immortals”— plus some cross-decked F-35Bs of the VMFA-242 “Bats” and Merlin Mk 2s on PoW, Wildcat helicopters from the British escorts, Cyclones from Ville de Québec, an NH90 from Roald Amundsen, and assorted MH-60s from both the Navyair and RAN.

Spanish frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez, which is deployed with the PoW group, has temporarily detached and is forward-deploying towards Japan.

(U.S. Navy photos by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kaleb C. Birch)

U.S. Navy aircraft, attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, fly over the U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group, as it participates in dual carrier operations alongside the U.K. HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group while underway in the Timor Sea, as part of Talisman Sabre, July 18, 2025. 

U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group participates in dual carrier operations alongside U.K. HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group while underway in the Timor Sea, as part of Talisman Sabre, July 18, 2025. 

U.S. Navy aircraft, attached to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, fly over the U.S. Navy George Washington Carrier Strike Group, as it participates in dual carrier operations alongside the U.K. HMS Prince of Wales Carrier Strike Group while underway in the Timor Sea, as part of Talisman Sabre, July 18, 2025. 

Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen

HMS Prince of Wales.

Ships front to back: Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen, HMS Prince of Wales, Australian warship HMAS Sydney, with an F-35B taking off from HMS Prince of Wales.

Left to right: Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen, HMS Prince of Wales, RFA Tidespring, Australian warship HMAS Sydney, HMS Richmond.

18th July 2025 – (Front/Rear) Australian warship HMAS Sydney and American warship USS Shoup.

Top to Bottom – United States Aircraft Carrier, USS George Washington, and UK Aircraft Carrier, HMS Prince of Wales.

Canadian Warship – HMCS Ville de Quebec.

Top to Bottom – United States Warships USS Robert Smalls, USS Shoup, and British Ship RFA Tidespring.

How about those HUGE national ensigns! Top to Bottom – Canadian Warship HMCS Vill De Quebec and Norwegian Warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen.

UK Aircraft Carrier HMS Prince of Wales.

18 July 2025 – US F/18 launches from US Aircraft Carrier, USS George Washington, as it sails alongside HMS Prince of Wales

Left to right – American aircraft carrier, USS George Washington, British Aircraft Carrier HMS Prince of Wales, Canadian Warship HMCS Ville de Quebec, Norwegian Warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen, United States Warships USS Robert Smalls, USS Shoup, Australian Warship HMAS Sydney, British ship RFA Tidespring, and British Warship HMS Dauntless.

HMS Prince of Wales arrived at the Australian naval base, HMAS Coonawarra, on 23rd July, making her the first Royal Navy carrier to visit Oz since 1997 when the Harrier carrier HMS Illustrious docked at Fremantle as part of the Ocean Wave deployment.

Talisman Sabre is scheduled to run through August 4.

Dragging out that Navy Naming Conventions Soapbox

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It’s like the Navy’s naming conventions are done with the Magic 8-ball or Ouija board over the past few years. Or perhaps are just hyper-political and just flat-out done for optics. Maybe it’s a blend of all of the above.

Trump’s Acting Secretary of the Navy, Thomas B. Modly, in early 2020 announced the next Ford-class supercarrier will be named after USS West Virginia Pearl Harbor hero PO3 Dorie Miller. Now don’t get me wrong, Miller should have a ship named after him– a destroyer (he previously had a Cold War-era Knox-class frigate named after him) as those vessels are named after naval heroes. Carriers should have names of presidents (a tradition established with the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945) or historic ships. Yes, I feel that Nimitz should have gotten a destroyer named after him rather than a flattop and both Carl Vinson and John Stennis should not have had any ships named in their honor, except for possibly to grace the hulls of auxiliaries.

Speaking of Pearl Harbor, Moldy was also responsible for bringing the names of the USS Arizona and USS Oklahoma back to the Navy List for the first time since 1942, with the planned USS Oklahoma (SSN-802) and the USS Arizona (SSN-803). While both are state names, matching the convention for the Virginia class these subs will belong to, I’m not sure if the name “Arizona” should ever be re-issued. After all, would you ever expect to see another HMS Hood?

77th SECNAV Kenneth J. Braithwaite, another of Trump’s guys, got a big win in my book when he returned to traditional “fish” names for fleet submarines (or hunter killers in modern parlance), something the Navy did from 1931 through 1973. Hence, we will soon have USS Barb (SSN 804), Tang (SSN 805), Wahoo (SSN 806), and Silversides (SSN 807), all after the numerous esteemed fleet boats that previously carried those marine creatures’ names, and the country’s next frigate will take the name of one of the country’s original six frigates, USS Constellation. Excellent job. This is how you do it. 

Then the “adults” came back to Washington and SECNAV Carlos Del Toro pointed out that the upcoming first Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, USS Columbia (SSBN 826), will not honor the previous 10 Columbias in current and past naval service but will specifically the first-named “District of Columbia,” which some have pointed out that is as another step in the plan to turn DC into the 51st state, but, hey…

Now enter two additional decisions from Del Toro’s office this week.

The aging Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) will be renamed USS Robert Smalls (CG 62), to comply with the new push to strip any perceived salutes to the old Confederacy from the modern military. Now, as with Dorie Miller, Smalls is a legitimate naval hero and, as such, should have a destroyer named after him. You know, a nice shiny new one that is ordered but not yet named. One that will serve for another 30 years or so. Instead, Chancellorsville/Smalls is set to retire in a couple of years, scheduled to enter mothballs in FY2026, and by most accounts, is in rather poor material condition.

Besides the terrible disservice to Smalls, the rest of the Ticos are named after battles, with Chancellorsville named after Robert E. Lee’s “perfect battle” near that Virginia town. Therefore, even if only in service for the next few years and arbitrarily stripped of her name in official disgust, why not name her after a more Union-friendly Civil War clash such as USS The Wilderness, which was importantly the first match-up between Lee and Grant (and took place in Virginia) and has never been characterized as a victory for either side? How about the USS Fort Henry, the first ship on the Navy List to honor the final Patriot victory in the Revolutionary War— and also at the time of the action part of Virginia, like the city of Chancellorsville.

Now the biggest of the grumbles.

Also coming from Del Toro this week is the word that the future Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine SSN-808 will be named USS John H. Dalton (SSN 808), after Clinton’s hatchetman SECNAV. You know, the guy who snuffed out the Sprucans before their time, slaughtered the Navy’s cruiser and frigate force, and canceled the scheduled Service Life Extension Program on USS America (CV-66), forcing the mighty carrier to be decommissioned in 1996 and ultimately scuttled at sea rather than keeping her in the line through 2010 as previously planned.

In short, Dalton was a total ass in my book. 

We all remember what happened to USS America…

The justification for Del Toro naming a sub after Dalton was that he had served briefly (active duty from 1964-69) in submarines and “as Secretary of the Navy, he took strong and principled stands against sexual assault and harassment and oversaw the integration of female Sailors onto combat ships.”

Gonna put that soap box up for now. I’m sure I’ll need to drag it out again.