Happy 236th Birthday, swabbies
The US Navy was established on this date in 1775, although it wasn’t until the following year that Benedict Arnold led the first fleet of ships in their first naval engagement at Valcour Island on Lake Champlain near Plattsburgh, NY from the birthplace of the Navy at WHitehall, NY. By the way, Arnold won that battle by sinking his fleet and delaying the british deployment south for another winter.
For the record, my Dad was a Radioman 1st Class in the Navy during the Korean War on the USS Saipan (CVL-48);
Category: Historical
Thanks for posting this early enough for me to scramble and send a quick note out to my nephew who is currently serving on USS Louisville somewhere nearish to Bahrain.
Louisville…wow. You’re taking me back. USS Buffalo at the time Louisville and Chicago got to have all the fun back in the day. I don’t always miss the Navy, but I sure miss the people…except for those dickhead CRFers in my last tour.
A hearty and sincere Happy Birthday to the Swabbies (said with all affection)! My older brother was one of you and now his son is training to be a Naval Aviator (see, even I know you aren’t “pilots”).
@2 I’m a civilian who has spent the last 6 months trying to learn the lingo and deployment details of two nephews (the other one is Army – 6-4 cav, currently in Khowst province), motivated by both interest and desire not to sound too much like an idiot. This blog, besides being an all around delight, never fails to give me a dose of new vocabulary every day.
All this to say I had to look up CRF which, according to this site http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/enlisted/community/administration/Pages/NC_CRF.aspx , suggest that refers to Career Recruiter Force. Funniest part of that linked webpage? “Most of their work is mental.”
Sorry to go off topic – Happy Birthday Navy!
Happy Birthday, Navy, especially those brown water sailors over at NECC. Some of the best guys in the world.
Missed it again! Thanks Jonn.
Happy Birthday to all my shipmates out there! As Sparky said, I too don’t always miss the Navy, but I made some lifelong friendships there, and did more during my time in than I ever thought possible.
V/R
Happy birthday, mop jockeys. I’ll tip a beer in your honor tonight. Until then, Anchor’s Away!
Happy birthday, water dogs!
Happy Birthday Shipmates. As said above, miss the people, and the sense of brotherhood, but I don’t really miss being locked in a sewer pipe for months at a time.
Ray–remember this song?
Submarines once!
Submarines twice!
Holy jumpin’ Jesus Christ!
We go up, and we go down!
We don’t ever fuck around!
Ooogah! Ooogah! Dive! Dive! Dive!
(Anyone wants to hear the second verse, e-mail me. It’s MUCH nastier than the first.)
Thanks…no really, thanks. Most people forget the Navy birthday. They also forget what the Constitution says…raise an Army…MAINTAIN a Navy.
Just sayin’
Navy Birthday 13 Oct 1775
Marine Corps Birthday 10 Nov 1775
Marine Corps origin 28 days later – in a bar…so how many days and how many drunk sailors does it take to come up with a Marine Corps?
Tongue in cheek of course – love ya’ Marines…
Retired Navy, spouting off.
Sparky, LOL
There’s also, “16 empty missile tubes, a mushroom cloud… and now It’s Miller Time!
Yeah, but I was on the really pretty ones with 24 tubes. Only one patrol, but still enough to let me know 70-plus days of Bangor to Bangor or King’s Bay to King’s Bay wasn’t the kind of life I wanted to live.
I wanted to be that guy who had a hardon in one hand and a shitload of pesos in the other as I walked/staggered across the Shit River Bridge.
And before you sick bastards start making shit up, the hardon in my hand would be MINE, thanks very much.
my dad’s tales of an Nuke PO4 who thought “lubricant” and didn’t see the “avoid prolonged contact with skin” He woke up after having stripped off the top two layers around his groin, to include his privates (and ahem seamen) and his hand. They had to put into port early cuz it was so bad.
He also told a tale after coming back from the Philippians, the CO knew there was contraband in the torpedo tubes so rather than let customs find it all he ordered a warter slug fired. They had a surfboard and other objects float up to the surface. I’m sure there were quite a few sailors miffed about that.
#12 I could have sworn there was somekind of controversy surrounding the founding of Navy. They supposedly didn’t even begin to celebrate it until the middle of the 20th century. The Continental Navy was disbanded after the revolution, they didn’t stand up the “newer” Institution until the 1790s. That was because some CNO settled it somehow. Correct me if I’m wrong. My Navy History is admittingly not that great. Always thought it was strange the Marine Corps, claimed to be older the Navy.
P.S. Doesn’t matter because the US Army was founed in June of 1775, predating both the USN and USMC.