Yokosuka no longer homeports a U.S. Navy cruiser. The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls (CG 62) departed Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka on Oct. 1, 2026, for a permanent homeport change to San Diego, according to a Navy release issued that day. The Navy said the departure ends the ship’s forward-deployed tour with U.S. 7th Fleet and Carrier Strike Group 5.
The cruiser’s place in the forward-deployed force goes to a destroyer, not another cruiser. The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin (DDG 89) takes over the slot, the release says.
The Navy release, distributed through DVIDS and mirrored by EIN Presswire on Oct. 1, 2026, states that the move “also marks the last U.S. Navy cruiser to leave Japan.” Rear Adm. Jeffrey L. Heames, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5 and Commander, Task Force 70, put it in six words: “She is the last cruiser to leave Japan.”
From Chancellorsville to Robert Smalls
The hull that left Yokosuka arrived there under a different name. According to the Navy release, the ship “arrived in Yokosuka in 2015 as USS Chancellorsville and was renamed to USS Robert Smalls in 2023.” Through both names, the release says, she served as the strike group’s cruiser escort and operated alongside Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force units and other regional allies.
Heames framed the tour in terms of the crews who served it.
“Her Sailors stood the watch here for more than a decade and strengthened our alliance every day they were on station.”
He also called the cruiser “a vital part of our forward deployed force,” and said, “We thank them for their service and thank Japan for its partnership and hospitality,” per the release.
The ship’s commanding officer, Capt. Francisco X. Garza, described the departure as “our sayonara, leaving Japan for the last time.” He added, according to the release, “This crew, and the crews that came before us on this hull, earned the trust of our Japanese partners and of the strike group.”
The pilot behind the name
The 2023 renaming tied the cruiser to a Civil War pilot who carried a Confederate steamer out to the Union fleet. The Naval History and Heritage Command’s Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships entry for the side-wheel steamer Planter records that “On 13 May 1862 at 0400, while her captain, C. J. Relyea, was absent on shore, Robert Smalls, an enslaved man” who was Planter’s pilot, “quietly took Planter from the wharf.”
Once the steamer was clear of the last Confederate gun, NHHC’s entry says, Smalls hauled down the Confederate flag, hoisted a white one and turned Planter over to the Union blockading ship Onward. The next day the steamer was sent to Flag Officer S. F. Du Pont at Port Royal Harbor, S.C., according to the same entry.
A destroyer takes the escort slot
In Japan, Robert Smalls was Carrier Strike Group 5’s cruiser escort, according to the Navy. With her departure, the strike group’s forward-deployed surface force gains Mustin, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, in her place, per the Navy’s Oct. 1 release.
The replacement was already in position. USNI News reported on March 24, 2026, that Mustin had departed San Diego on Feb. 23 and arrived at Yokosuka on March 23, 2026, to replace Robert Smalls.
The Navy’s Oct. 1 release does not address what comes next for the cruiser after San Diego. Stars and Stripes, in an Oct. 5, 2026, report by Jonathan Baez, said the ship is headed home “ahead of its planned decommissioning later this fiscal year.” The same report added: “The Navy plans to retire the entire class by 2029.”
The release describes the move as a permanent change of station for the crew and their families. Garza closed his remarks with the ship’s motto, “Freedom through Courage,” and said, “We leave proud of that record and grateful for the time we had in Yokosuka.”
Robert Smalls is transiting to the U.S. West Coast and will report to Naval Surface Forces, U.S. Pacific Fleet, on arrival in San Diego, the Navy said.
Top image: USS Robert Smalls (CG 62) transits the Philippine Sea on June 3, 2023. Image Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ryre Arciaga — Public domain / Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Combat Rated editors prior to publication.