US Politicians Wish Navy Happy Birthday With Photos of Indian Warships

Several US politicians marked the US Navy's 251st birthday on Oct. 13 with photos of foreign warships. Two of them, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Rep. Tim Moore, used a picture of Indian Navy frigates. Dave Brown, the Wall Street Journal's deputy Washington bureau chief, flagged the posts on X.

Brown's one-line post, "Those are Indian warships," has drawn more than 12,000 likes. Clash Report found no response from Kemp, Moore or their offices.

Kemp's Post Shows Indian Frigates

Kemp, a Republican, posted a Navy birthday message on X on Oct. 13. He wrote that "we salute the sailors whose service, sacrifice, and courage carry that legacy forward." The attached graphic read "Happy Birthday US Navy" over a photo of three warships in a line.

Brown posted a screenshot of it with the words "Those are Indian warships." India Today and WION reported the same identification. X's data service returned "not found" for Kemp's original post on Nov. 1. Clash Report could not confirm whether it was deleted, but an Internet Archive copy from Oct. 15 preserves its text.

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Where the Photo Comes From

The image matches a U.S. Navy photo dated Oct. 20, 2008. The Navy credits it to Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Joshua Scott. It was taken in the Indian Ocean during Malabar 2008, a bilateral US-India naval exercise.

The Navy caption names INS Godavari, INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas. The three Indian frigates are steaming behind the cruiser USS Chancellorsville, which is not pictured. As a work of the US government, the photo is in the public domain.

India Today reported that a Community Note on Kemp's post called the ships Kolkata-class destroyers. India Today described that identification as incorrect. Clash Report could not view the note.

Rep. Moore Uses the Same Photo

Moore, a North Carolina Republican, posted the same image of three frigates. His graphic added a Department of the Navy seal and the words "251 Years." The post said the Navy "has defended our nation against threats at sea and protected American interests abroad."

Brown posted a screenshot of Moore's message and wrote, "The Indian warships are back." Clash Report could not retrieve Moore's original post.

Clash Report

Think Tank Posts INS Trikand

The Freedom Caucus Foundation, which supports the House Freedom Caucus, also posted a Navy birthday graphic. Brown said its warship is INS Trikand, a Talwar-class frigate of the Indian Navy. The hull number F51 is visible on the ship.

Clash Report could not identify the original photo. The comparison below uses a reference photo of the same ship, taken in 2013.

Clash Report

Russian Ships Also Flagged

Brown flagged three more posts that used Russian vessels. Ohio state Rep. Mike Dovilla, a Republican, posted a graphic that Brown said shows Russian ships. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, a Democrat, used what Brown said appears to be the Soviet-era cruiser Mikhail Kutuzov.

Jeffrey Dinise of the Border Patrol's Miami Sector posted a Kirov-class battlecruiser, according to Brown. The Kutuzov is now a museum ship in Novorossiysk, Russia.

Not the First Navy Birthday Mix-Up

Brown said such posts keep happening and linked a thread of earlier years. In 2021, the NCIS account posted a Russian Kirov-class battlecruiser for the Navy's 246th birthday, Task & Purpose reported. NCIS later apologized and said it had used a mislabeled stock image.

Users on X joked about the latest mix-up. Some wrote that the ships had arrived on H-1B visas, according to Indian media reports.

India's navy has been in the news recently. Clash Report reported on India landing a Rafale Marine fighter on INS Vikrant on Oct. 30. For the real US fleet, see our explainer on US Navy aircraft carriers and where they are.