{"id":6936,"date":"2015-10-07T07:39:15","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T12:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.senioradvisor.com\/blog\/?p=6936"},"modified":"2015-09-24T10:41:51","modified_gmt":"2015-09-24T15:41:51","slug":"a-brief-history-of-the-us-navy-in-honor-of-its-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d30braiqprupoq.cloudfront.net\/blog\/2015\/10\/a-brief-history-of-the-us-navy-in-honor-of-its-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of the US Navy in Honor of its Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>A Brief History of the US Navy in Honor of its Birthday<\/h1>\n<div id=\"attachment_6941\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6941\" class=\"wp-image-6941 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/US-Navy-Birthday-350x350.png\" alt=\"US Navy Birthday\" width=\"350\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/US-Navy-Birthday-350x350.png 350w, https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/US-Navy-Birthday-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/US-Navy-Birthday-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/img.prod.aplaceformom.com\/main\/uploads\/sa-blog\/2015\/10\/US-Navy-Birthday.png 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6941\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Wish the navy a happy birthday! Share this image on your Facebook page.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Started on October 13, 1775, the birth of the United States Navy actually slightly predates the beginning of the United States. As such, for its first few years in existence, the fleet was called the Continental Army and was devoted to disrupting shipments that came to the country from the United Kingdom. The initial fleet was mostly made up of commercial sailors in their own ships who honestly didn\u2019t manage to make too much of a difference in the American Revolution. In traditional American fashion though, from small beginnings rose an important U.S. institution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The U.S. Navy has now been involved in over ten major wars, defended the country against pirates, and played an important role in relief efforts worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Navy&#8217;s Anti-Piracy Efforts<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the earliest uses for the U.S. Navy was to fight against the Barbary pirates that were taking over the country\u2019s merchant ships, helping themselves to the items on board, and taking the men on the ship hostage. Thomas Jefferson sent the naval fleet of the day to the Barbary Coast in response. Two wars ensued before the pirates backed off. In recent years though, the navy has seen history repeat itself as <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Somali pirates attack U.S. ships<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As they did in the past (although with better technology this time around), the navy has risen to the challenge. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Navy in the Civil War<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abraham Lincoln used the U.S. Navy to set up a blockade off the Southern coast, effectively cutting off their trade with the outside world and limiting military supplies. The Confederacy responded by rounding up any ships they could find and the sea became one of the war\u2019s battlegrounds. The fall of Fort Fisher in Alabama at the hands of a Union fleet played a key role in cutting off crucial supplies to the Confederate army and ending the war. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Navy in WWI<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Naval warfare played a significant role in WWI. When the United States made its late entry onto the scene, Navy ships were used to transport many of the troops across the sea and Navy destroyers were brought into play to help sink enemy submarines. Because the U.S. came into the war so late and because the Navy was small at the time we got involved, the U.S. Navy\u2019s role in WWI was comparably small. That would change by the time WWII rolled around.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Navy in WWII<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the years between the two great wars, the U.S. Navy grew considerably. By the time Pearl Harbor brought the U.S. into the conflict, the Navy had 350 major combatant ships. By the end of the war, the fleet had grown to 1,200. The Navy was an important part of the war in the Pacific Theater with their island-hopping campaign and several big battles with the Japanese Navy. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Navy&#8217;s Relief Operations<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Starting in 1931, when the Navy sent a ship to Nicaragua with supplies and personnel to help the survivors of a serious earthquake, the Navy has been involved in a <\/span><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.navy.com\/about\/mission\/humanitarian.html#what\" target=\"_blank\">number of humanitarian efforts<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They swung into action to help after Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, and in the aftermaths of the tsunamis that shook Indonesia and Japan in recent years. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Our Modern Day U.S. Navy<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today the <\/span><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.navy.mil\/navydata\/nav_legacy.asp?id=146\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Navy<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has over 300,000 active duty members and over 100,000 more reservists. They operate more in the air than on the sea, with over 3,700 aircraft in operation in comparison to the less than 300 battle ships they have. Many members of the Navy have been deployed in the engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan and many have been involved in worldwide humanitarian relief efforts the Navy helps with. From the early days as a small fleet of merchants to today, the Navy has undergone a significant transformation and has much to celebrate on its 240<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> birthday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Happy 240th Birthday to our US Navy!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Brief History of the US Navy in Honor of its Birthday Started on October 13, 1775, the birth of the United States Navy actually slightly predates the beginning of the United States. As such, for its first few years in existence, the fleet was called the Continental Army and was devoted to disrupting shipments that came to the country [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,96,161],"tags":[459,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-6936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-families-caregivers","7":"category-holiday-fun","8":"category-memories","9":"tag-navy-birthday","10":"tag-veterans"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Brief History of the US Navy in Honor of its Birthday<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The US Navy celebrates its 240th birthday on October 13th. 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