Navy Birthday Information - 13 October 1775

The Chief of Naval Operations has stated that the Navy Birthday is one of the two Navy-wide dates to be celebrated annually. This page provides historical informationon the birth and early years of the Navy, including bibliographies, lists of the ships,and information on the first officers of the Continental Navy, as well as texts of
original documents relating to Congress and the Continental Navy, 1775-1783.The United States Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which the Continental Congress established on 13 October 1775, by authorizing the 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 fifty ships over the course of the war, with approximately twenty warships active at its maximum strength.Photo # NH 85210-KN: Continental Ship Columbus bringing in the British brig Lord Lifford, 1776. Painting by W. Nowland Van PowellAfter the American War for Independence, Congress sold the surviving ships of theContinental Navy and released the seamen and officers. The Constitution of the UnitedStates, ratified in 1789, empowered Congress "to provide and maintain a navy." Actingon this authority, Congress ordered the construction and manning of six frigates in 1794, and the War Department administered naval affairs from that year until Congress established the Department of the Navy on 30 April 1798.

Not to be confused with the Navy Birthday or the founding of the Navy Department is Navy Day. The Navy League sponsored the first national observance of Navy Day in 1922 designed to give recognition to the naval service. The Navy League of New York proposed that the official observance be on 27 October in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt, who had been born on that day.In 1972 Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt authorized recognition of13 October as the Navy's birthday. In contrast to Navy Day, 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 thisoccasion "to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage, and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service."