BALTIMORE, Md. (Army News Service, Sept. 16, 2007) – The logistics support vessel Major General Robert Smalls (LSV-8) – the first Army vessel named for an African American – was inducted into the Army’s watercraft fleet yesterday during a commissioning ceremony at Baltimore’s historic Inner Harbor.
The 314-foot long, 5,412-ton vessel officially joined the Army Reserve’s 203rd Transportation Detachment as more than 300 guests looked on. Smalls is the second of two improved LSVs based on the six earlier Gen. Frank S. Besson-class vessels. Her sistership, Staff Sgt. Robert T. Kuroda, LSV-7, joined the Reserve’s Honolulu-based 548th Trans. Det. in October 2006.
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Built by VT Halter Marine in Moss Point, Miss., and christened in April 2004, LSV-8 is named in honor of Robert Smalls. As a 23-year-old slave during the Civil War he commandeered a Confederate transport steamer loaded with armaments and used the vessel to spirit his wife, children and 12 other slaves to freedom. Hailed as a hero by Union leaders, Robert Smalls went on to become the first African-American to captain a vessel in U.S. service and later served as a major general in the South Carolina militia, a state legislator, a five-term member of the U.S. Congress and U.S. Collector of Customs in Beaufort, S.C.
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“I knew that this man deserved more recognition from this nation,” she said, “and I first approached the Navy about naming a ship after him. After that didn’t work out I ended up sitting near the Army’s chief of military history at a social function and, after speaking with him later, he said that Robert Smalls’ service in the militia might allow the Army to name a vessel after him.” After a lengthy verification process, the Civil War hero was ultimately selected to give his name to the vessel. (more…)
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