Happy 249th Birthday, U.S. Navy!

The U.S. Navy turns 249 years old this Sunday. On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress commissioned two ships, each with eighty sailors, “for intercepting such transports as may be laden with warlike stores and other supplies for our enemies.” The enemy at the time was Great Britain, whose Royal Navy ruled the seas. By the end of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Navy had grown to about fifty ships. In 1789, the U.S. Constitution guaranteed the navy’s future by granting Congress the power “to provide and maintain a navy.” 

George Washington once said it is “as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive—and with it, everything honorable and glorious.” Those words are even more appropriate in the twenty-first century where U.S. interests span the globe. To serve and protect those interests, the U.S. Navy today has 330,696 active duty personnel, 54,929 reserve personnel, 219,002 civilian employees, 297 deployable ships, 71 submarines, and around 2,500 operational aircraft. 

The U.S. Navy commissioned four warships over the past year:

·         USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-795), an attack submarine commissioned on October 14, 2023;

·         USS John L. Canley (ESB-6), an expeditionary sea base commissioned on February 17, 2024;

·         USS Kingsville (LCS-36), a littoral combat ship commissioned on August 24, 2024; and  

·         USS New Jersey (SSN-796), an attack submarine commissioned on September 14, 2024.

The navy anticipates commissioning six ships in FY25, which ends next September 30.

John F. Kennedy was the first navy veteran elected president. But five of the next six presidents also served in the navy: Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush. Well-known navy veterans include baseball Hall-of-Famers Yogi Berra and Stan Musial; basketball Hall-of-Famers David Robinson and John Wooden; football Hall-of-Famer Roger T. Staubach; pro wrestling great and former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura; actors Humphrey Bogart, Henry Fonda, and Jack Lemmon; former Tonight Show host Johnny Carson; talk-show host Montel Williams; musicians John Coltrane and M.C. Hammer; and astronaut Neil Armstrong. 

Two presidents served in senior civilian positions in the navy before being elected to the White House. Theodore Roosevelt was the assistant secretary of the navy from 1897 to 1898. As president a decade later, he sent sixteen battleships and numerous support ships, known collectively as the “Great White Fleet,” to sail around the world to demonstrate the prowess of the U.S. Navy and to promote freedom of navigation worldwide. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was assistant secretary of the navy from 1913 to 1920.

I asked Captain Thomas P. O’Donnell, a naval officer spending a year at CFR as a visiting military fellow, what he would recommend for anyone wanting to learn more about the navy and naval warfare. Here are his suggestions:

Ian W. Toll. The Pacific War Trilogy (2011, 2015, 2020). Over the course of three books, Toll provides one of the most thoroughly researched and holistic accounts of the U.S. Navy’s role in the Pacific theater of World War II. He begins with a stunning account of the war from the Imperial Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, discusses the Battle of Midway in June 1942 when the course of the war shifted in the favor of the United States, and ends with Japan’s formal surrender on September 2, 1945, onboard the USS Missouri (BB-63). The trilogy offers mesmerizing details of each battle from the first page of volume 1 to the final page of volume 3.

Donald Stratton and Ken Gire, All the Gallant Men: An American Sailor’s Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor (2016). Donald Stratton was a sailor onboard the USS Arizona (BB-39) during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. His firsthand account of the bravery, heroism, and sacrifice of the sailors of the Pacific Fleet that fateful day is inspiring. His personal resilience and dedication to his country before self embodies the spirit of “The Greatest Generation.” His granddaughter, Nicole Stratton, was chosen by the secretary of the navy to be the ship’s sponsor for the next USS Arizona, an attack submarine (SSN-803) that will be commissioned in 2027.

Edwin P. Hoyt, Bowfin: The True Story of a Fabled Fleet Submarine in World War II (1983). The USS Bowfin (SS-287) was commissioned on December 7^th, 1942, and was quickly nicknamed “The Pearl Harbor Avenger.”  The Bowfin and its crew conducted nine war patrols between August 1943 and July 1945, sinking thirty-four Imperial Japanese ships, totaling almost 180,000 tons. Today, commanding officers of submarines in the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet receive their “Command at Sea” pin onboard the Bowfin from the Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet upon successfully completing the Submarine Command Course. The Bowfin is moored in Pearl Harbor as part of the Pacific Fleet Submarine Museum, adjacent to the USS Arizona (BB-39) memorial.

Annette Lawrence Drew, Christopher Drew, and Sherry Sontag, Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage (1998). Blind Man’s Bluff tells the thrilling story of the U.S. Navy’s submarine operations during the Cold War. The daring and heroism of those submariners provides insight into the capabilities that the U.S. Navy’s submarine fleet provides America’s defense. After reading Blind Man’s Bluff, you will know why the navy’s submarine force is known as “the silent service.”

As Captain O’Donnell’s latter two book recommendations might have suggested, he is a submariner by trade. So it is not surprising that he likes movies that involve warfare under the waves and leading in the face of adversity, including Run Silent, Run Deep, The Hunt for Red October, Men of Honor, and Greyhound. However, his favorite is Crimson Tide with Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington. It is an epic Cold War story that pits the fate of the world against the sanctity and authority of the chain of command. The movie provides a realistic account of the layers of safety and security built into nuclear command and control in the United States. The objective is to ensure that nuclear weapons cannot, and will not, be used without a valid and authentic launch order from the president of the United States.

Oscar Berry assisted in the preparation of this post.