US Navy Birthday
The US Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which the Continental Congress established on 13 October 1775, by authorizing procurement, fitting out, manning and dispatch of two armed vessels to cruise in search of munitions ships supplying the British Army in America. The legislation also established a Naval Committee to supervise the work. All together, the Continental Navy numbered some 50 ships over the course of the war, with approximately 20 warships active at its maximum strength.
In 1972, Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwait, authorized recognition of 13 October as the Navy’s birthday. Not to be confused with Navy Day (the founding of the Navy Department), the Navy Birthday is intended as an internal activity for members of the active forces and reserves, as well as retirees and dependents. Since 1972, each CNO has encouraged a Navy-wide celebration of this occasion “to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service.”
Although written by a Royal Navy Admiral in 1896, “The Laws of the Navy” began to appear in the US Naval Academy’s “Reef Points” Plebe Handbook and is still there today. The sketches were added by Lt. Rowland Langmaid R.N. during WWI.
Click on images to enlarge!
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HUMOR –
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FAREWELL SALUTES –
Gene Acton = Wichita, KS; US Navy & civilian service w/ Boeing Aircraft
Wade “Buddy” Fitzek – Dunns Corners, RI; US Navy, WWII, USS Idaho
John Kohler – Hot Springs, AK; US Navy (Ret.), pilot systems, Vietnam, USS Kitty Hawk
Louis Marks – Arnaudville, LA; US Navy, Korea
Frank O’Malley – Ipswich, MA & Sarasota, FL; US Navy, WWII, Korea, pilot, USS Wasp & Midway
Edward Ouellet – Wellesley, MA; US Nay, WWII, PTO
John Overlease – Loveland, CO; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Marvin Sorensen – Race, WI; US Navy, Korea, USS Hawkins & Markab
Leo Speirs – Glines, UT; US Navy, WWII
Willis Wolfe – Oxnard, CA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Waldron, recalled for Korea
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Posted on October 13, 2014, in Korean War, Vietnam, WWII and tagged ancestry, family history, History, Humor, Korea, Military, Military humor, Navy, nostalgia, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 76 Comments.
My beloved Daddy was a Navy man.
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Then I certainly hope you approve of what I did here, CJ.
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Great sketches and the Laws. Thank you for sharing!
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My pleasure, Mia. Thank you for viewing.
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Great work as always!
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Thanks, Brent. Looks like you’ve done a lot of catching up!
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Showed this post to my boy who’s been knee-deep in the America Revolution. =) He played a minuteman recently, as I shared in the post Revolutionist. Informative post.
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I’m thrilled it could be of some help to your son!! I’m so glad to hear of a child that is interested in history; knowing the past does so much to increase their intelligence for the future. Give him my best!
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He is off to a solid start in his education, notably for the strength of the history in his curriculum. He’s been zonkers over all the battles in the American Rev – a wonderful thing that the man who moderated the recent interactive play for our homeschool group reminded the kids to act it out respectfully in honor of those who gave their lives for the freedoms we enjoy.
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Wonderful to hear of excellent teacher!!
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Very good and healthy advice in the Laws of the Navy (thank you Kipling – as these are a skit on the Laws of the Jungle). Great cartoons.
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Thanks, Hillary. I’m happy you like them.
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Thank you for writing this post. My grandfather and father were Navy men and my son-in-law is an active Navy Chief. Thank you all for serving.
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I had a lot of fun doing this post, Mary, so it is I who wish to thank you for visiting and your family for their service!! Hope to see you again soon.
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Love those cartoons! And the Laws of the Navy ring true, too.
“I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, Argus” … all good clean fun and no-one gets hurt.
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Sounds like a plan, Angus – at ease. Glad you liked it.
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Your post notes “All together, the Continental Navy numbered some 50 ships over the course of the war, with approximately 20 warships active at its maximum strength.” During the Revolutionary war, some of the individual states had navies. I wonder how their numbers are factored into that of the Continental Navy. I also wonder what the US Navy considers to be its first engagement with the British. Did it occur before or after the establishment of the Continental Navy?
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Allen, I’m really not qualified to answer that one. My post notes came from the Navy military site and how exactly they had counted was not mentioned.
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Happy Birthday US Navy.
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Anchors aweigh !!!!!!
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Don’t worry – the USMC birthday is coming up sooner than I think! I remember my aunt and uncle telling me about (I believe the 200th) out in California and the guest speaker was Telly Savalas. Ever see a Marine blush? My uncle did when he told us my aunt pushed her way forward to give Telly a lollipop while he was still on stage!!
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😀 Oh man. 😀
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Very cool! Go Navy!
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Glad you liked it, Toni.
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I had several ancestors fighting with the Pennsylvania Navy during the Revolutionary War, including helping hold the British off at Fort Mifflin. Also, our son, Tony, graduated from Annapolis. –Curt
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Absolutely fantastic, Curt!! What a heritage you have in your family, terrific! Please stress to Tony my extreme thanks for his service and God Speed.
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Thanks and will do GP. –Curt
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The “Laws of the Navy” might well be read daily by all.
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I had a feeling you would like them! No one seems quite as observant as you lately or they’re just not telling me how they feel.
What do you think – are the posts becoming drawn out? too long? boring? Any suggestions?
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Reblogged this on Practically Historical.
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Thank you very much for the reblog. I sincerely hope your readers enjoy it.
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A lovely post, a nice mix of humour and serious reflection. Happy birthday to the Navy.
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So glad you stopped in to help the sailors celebrate!!
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Thanks for posting. I didn’t know that today was US Navy birthday. I will have to call my cousin who is the Navy to congratulate him…
I was wondering if you can clarify something about Congress authorization for the creation of the Navy. I think I read a while ago that one of the main reason why Congress commision the creation of the Navy was to protect trade routes in the Mediterrannea due to attack by muslim pirates in the region. Is this true?
Once again thank you for keeping up such an Awesome blog! God bles!
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As it reads in the post, 1775, (US Independence) was the reason for the Navy being formed – we had declared war on Britain and all their supplies came across the Atlantic to America and the Colonies had to stop that (or steal it).
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Thanks…How could I have missed that in your post! Shame on me…thanks for the response.
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No problem. Have a great day.
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My family includes its share of sailors. Happy Birthday to the US Fleet!
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All my best to your family. Hope they enjoy!!
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Happy Birthday Navy! Great article and especially the humor section 🙂
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I landed in so many places with Navy humor, it was really hard to pick which ones would go in – another fun post. Thanks for visiting, Kathy. How’s Halloween coming?
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Just saw this comment and great minds think alike since I just posted it. Think that you picked some great ones with the Navy humor 🙂
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Thanks. [and no need to thank me for the idea, you would have come up with something just as good – I know it!]
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You do a wonderful job with these commemorative posts, GP. I might have to simply RP yours in the future.
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I had a funny suspicion I’d hear from you today! You are always great about commenting, but it is the Navy after all! Thanks.
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Super post…and by coincidence I’m just reading a biography of John Paul Jones.
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Fancy that – what sailor DOESN’T know that name. 😉 Bet you could teach all of us a thing or two about him, Helen.
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He is still remembered in Galloway for having returned the silver he confiscated years before…from the Earl of Selkirk….
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You see – I did not know that he returned the silver (either that or my swiss-cheese memory has slipped again 😉 ) Thanks for sharing, Helen.
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Silly question, perhaps, but do the ordinary sailors celebrate this birthday? Does every ship do something special?
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No question is silly if you want an answer. Actually it is a week long ritual that ends today. For a list of what they do –
http://www.military.com/navy-birthday/navy-238th-birthday.html
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Hi, dear GP Cox,
thank you so much for this awesome blog full of information – especially all these pictures. We are impressed all the time visiting your blog how much picture you have in store. You continue our history lessons where they ended during our time at school.
Thank you very much!
The Fab Four of Cley
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Thank you so much for that overwhelming compliment. After reading the posts of the Fab Four of Cley, it is hard to even come close to your expertise. I hope you all have a wonderful week.
GP Cox
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Another great post! Love that “Rules of the Army” poem! 🙂
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I was so glad to discover the poem, Linda. I found it unique and hoped it would add something new to the site. Thank you.
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Nicely done (as usual). Off-topic, I have a friend who is researching (3) CT servicemen for a history class at Central CT University. These guys were young and all three died at Iwo Jima. The class project is to find out something about the 100 CT servicemen who died in that battle. The reports they prepare are to be used in a ceremony at the CT Iwo Jima Memorial. He has exhausted the obvious sources, and has found some stuff, but not much. I told him I’d ask if you could point him in any particular direction for information on that battle. It’s not a huge deal, but I thought I’d ask. Thanks.
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I’ll do what i can to look into it and get back to you, Dan. A very worthy project.
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Thanks! My friend is retired. He’s gone back to school in his mid-60s for a degree in history and he takes these things very seriously. I love talking to him about this class, which covers WWII.
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I take these things seriously too, so we have a lot in common – tell him I’ll definitely try. In the meantime – I wish him the best in his research and studies.
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I’m running into some brick walls, Dan. I suppose that has been your friend’s problem too. If he can find a list of men who were deployed to the Pacific, the following list of Iwo Jima casualties might come in handy, but boy is long. I’ll keep trying, I have some emails out – didn’t want you to think I forgot.
http://www.recordsofwar.com/iwo/dead/dead.htm
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Thanks. He has the names (and they are on this list) but he’s supposed to find awards, citations, unit, assignments, and (if possible) a picture. He’s checked the local town libraries, but these guys were born during the depression and graduated at the tail end of it. He found a bunch of info on one of them, actually the only guy at Iwo from CT that got a Silver Star. but he’s running into dead ends on the other two. Don’t feel bad, I told him I’d ask you and an online friend who is writing a book tracing his grandfather’s journey through the pacific for pointers.
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Try the unit’s Association. They keep track of the awards given out. They often have their own historian.
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OK, that sounds like a good idea.
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Another way, although tedious, is to look up each medal i.e. “List of Navy Cross medals awarded for Iwo Jima.” I know this site has some:
http://www.homeofheroes.com/
Tell your friend I’m rooting for him.
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Thanks! Looking up the Units put him onto some material that he can use. Not pictures of the people, but pictures from the Unit Photographer, taken on Iwo Jima during the battle. My friend who is researching the book gave us info on researching official records of individuals, but the wait time is longer than the semester 😦
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Unless a man’s history is online – you need a lot of time allotted for the info to reach you. That’s why I stayed with web sites for your friend’s project. There were Marines and Army on Iwo, so he’ll need to look up a few medals. Research is not as easy as it sounds, it’s an endless hop from one source to another.
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Incidentally I’ve just made a photowalk around the American Cemetery here in Manila this weekend. Many of them gave their lives here. Consider this shot a tribute https://malate.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/img_8117.jpg
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Thank you very much for giving us this tribute to share. My father luckily came back from New Guinea, Leyte, Luzon, Mindanao and Japan – but so many more did not.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Wonderful post ….. Happy birthday Navy!!
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Thank you for celebrating with the sailors!!
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Welcome!! I celebrate with you!!
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award free…
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Finally figured out how to get that on there. I do still have my Teacher’s Pet Award in my photo gallery, tho.
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That’s a genuine award!
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And, I kept it because it was awarded from my mentor.
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