I was born and grew up near Whitehall, NY - so, as the "Birthplace of the U.S. Navy" on October 13, 1775, it was a fitting location and venue for my retirement from the Navy in July of 1981.

As part of my strong connection to this area of our country, I thought it might be interesting to post a few facts about this important date in our nation's history, as well as some pertinent dates and events connected with our Navy's beginnings.

The first "Navy" ship was a trading ship built at Sheenesborough, NY (now Whitehall,NY)which was under the command of Col. Benedict Arnold. It captured the British ship Enterprise on May 18, 1775 at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. As many of you know, October 13, 1775 is recognized as the "official birthday" of the United States Navy, today being 239 years old. The first ships were constructed at Skeenesborough, NY which grew from 4 to 50 plus ships by the end of the Revolutionary War.

In anticipation of a British Naval invasion, the Continental Congress, on Octobor 13, 1775 authorized the establishment of a Navy and procurement of four additional armed vessels. This was the birth of the U.S. Navy.

Then, in 1776, General Philip Schuyler was ordered to construct a fleet of ships to counter the expected British invasion. Thus, an additional 13 ships were added to the four already patrolling Lake Champlain.

These ships were instrumental in actions at the Battle of Valcour (on Lake Champlain), in October of 1776 under command of Brigadier General Arnold, in which some 15 Colonial ships and about 800 men faced an overwhelming British force consisting of 30 manned vessels and 7000 troops in bateaux.

The goal of the British was to destroy the Colonial fleet and capture Fort Ticonderoga. While the Colonial fleet was badly defeated, the two days of battle significantly delayed further actions by British forces. These delays ultimately aided the Colonial Army to overwhelm the British and triumph at the Battle of Saratoga, when British General Burgoyne surrendered to General Gates in October of 1777. The defeat of the British at Saratoga, is best known as the "Turning point of the Revolutionary War".

I think it might be a valid point of conjecture, but I believe that the very foundation of our United States of America can be attributed, in large part, to the establishment of the Colonial Navy(October 13, 1775), the subsequent ratification by Congress to maintain a Navy in 1789 and the establishment of
Department of the Navy in 1798.

So, I offer a salute to all my fellow shipmates who have so honorably served their country.

As John F. Kennedy once said: "...any man who may be asked...what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with great deal of pride and satisfaction: I served in the United States Navy."

May God Bless the United States of America - and Happy Birthday to our Navy!

Irv

Yo Dee,

Great piece of writing and extremely interesting.

Now, let me put a lighter twist on the subject.

When I go back to my roots in Arkansas, most of my old friends and acquaintances ask the proverbial question of "How did a hick from Arkansas wind up spending a lifetime associating with the Navy"?

Well, my answer is this.

The Navy spends a great deal of time and money throwing me a special birthday party every year on 13 October. And............., on top of that, my old buddies throw Pat and I a heck of an Anniversary Party every five years on 18 Sep.

With "Perks" like that, it was a "no-brainer".

J

John -

Thanks for your comment and feedback.

You always had a knack for drumming up the lighter side of things - especially when someone needed a good laugh, or just a chuckle. Only one that might have outdone you would have been Gene Howard, but his "jokes" might have been a bit too "colorful" for this forum.

Anyway, as one hick to another (I, being the hick from the backwoods of the Adirondacks), my answer to similar questions from those around these parts is: My "uncle" has been providing pretty well for me during the last 33 years, with a monthly stipend! And, yes, I enjoy those anniversary parties every 5 years too! Had an AWESOME time at this last one, not that any of the previous ones were anything to sneeze at.

Dee

Dee, that was a great post. I'm a huge early American history buff and the beginnings of the Navy are certainly part of that. Here's an interesting piece of history that just might help keep us humble....Master Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry is famous for defeating the British in the Great Lakes during the War of 1812, after which he wrote "We have met the enemy and they are ours" Amazingly, Perry was 27 years old at the time.

Randy -

I, too, am a early American history buff - and I did know about Perry defeating the British is the War of 1812. However, I was not aware of his age at that time. Pretty amazing!

I know a bit more of the events during that war which happened in our neck of the woods here in NY, - and there were many of them, as I'm sure you know.

Thanks for sharing.........Dee

Irv, I'm a bit familiar with events there but not an expert. Madison did see the necessity of controlling the lakes to defeat the Brits and inhibit their abilities on land. Speaking of Madison, my part time job takes me past Montpelier several times a week and Chris and I just toured the place again last month. We're headed to Mount Vernon Friday. Virginia has so much Revolutionary and Civil War history, I just love reading about it and seeing it. If you haven't read my bragging before, my 5X great grandfather was in the Virginia Militia in the 1780's, his son was briefly in the War of 1812 and his son was in a W.Virginia regiment during the Civil War. Must be the Scot/Irish blood that drove them :)

Gene Howard - Great joke teller and guitar strummer. Anyone know of his where-bouts?

Paul -

I know we never served together, but Gene and I were together in OT Maintenance school around May - Dec of 1971, along with John Ellis and others of whom I have no memory. You may want to check with John Ellis to see if he knows where Gene might be hanging his hat these days. I never heard from him after we left Key West. If you happen to locate him, I would like to have any contact information you come up with.

Thanks............Irv