On the loss of USS Gettysburg
the podium · Written statement, the White House · 18 February 2026, 20:00
The United States Navy has lost the cruiser Gettysburg in the North Sea. Thirty-two Americans did not come off that ship.
I have been given their names. I will not read them tonight because their families have not all been reached, and they will hear it from an officer at a door and not from a television.
She fought well. She killed fourteen missiles before anything touched her, and her captain fought her for three hours after that. I am told by people who know that this is a very hard thing to do and that her crew did it.
I ordered the operation she was on. I want that said plainly, tonight, by me. Nobody else ordered it.
closed channel
The Phase II situation report delivered to the Situation Room that evening gave her loss one line, between the standoff-inventory figure and the statement that the allied deterrent remained unlocated.
Same day
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@AFP · press
18 Feb 2026 08:10
URGENT: US Navy cruiser USS Gettysburg has sunk in the North Sea after being struck by anti-ship missiles during a combined Anglo-French strike. US officials confirm fatalities.
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@navywife_kbay · civilian
18 Feb 2026 08:40
A ship went down. Every spouse in this neighbourhood is standing at a window right now watching the street for a car that does not belong here. That is what today is. Not the news. The window. Please do not post the name until the families have been told. Plea…
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@momof3_indy · civilian
18 Feb 2026 09:00
Navy. It says Navy. My son is Army. I read the word Navy and I felt relief and then I felt so ashamed of the relief that I had to sit down on the stairs. Somebody's son is on that ship. I am so sorry. I am so sorry that my first feeling was about mine.
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@seapowerdesk · analyst
18 Feb 2026 09:30
How it happened, because the detail matters: Gettysburg fought her own engagement well. Fourteen sea-skimmers killed by SM-2 and ESSM. Then Suffren put a torpedo spread underneath her and she had to manoeuvre out of her own defensive geometry. Two Exocets amid…
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@factcheck_anna · civilian
18 Feb 2026 10:00
PLEASE stop reposting the crew list going round. It is not official, it is not complete, and two of the names on it are wrong. Somebody's mother is going to read a name on your timeline before an officer gets to her door. There is no version of that you get to…
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@navywife_kbay · civilian
18 Feb 2026 11:30
Tanya. Every single one of us on this street felt exactly that this morning when we saw it was not our husband's hull number. It is not shame. It is what love does when it is frightened. Do not carry that one on top of everything else.
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@DeptofDefense · state
18 Feb 2026 15:00
The Department confirms the loss of USS Gettysburg (CG-64) with thirty-two personnel. Next of kin are being notified. Operations in the theater continue.
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@ingaskram · reporter
18 Feb 2026 15:20
The fuel farm at Keflavik is burning. Storm Shadow, from the east, under the Patriots. Nine days ago the Americans took this airfield in a battle that killed nine people. Tonight they cannot land a heavy transport on it.