United States Navy

===Origins===
{{blockquote|It follows then 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.|[[George Washington]] 15 November 1781, to [[Marquis de Lafayette]]<ref name="FamousNavyQuotes">{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/famous-navy-quotes.html |title=Famous Navy Quotes: Who Said Them&nbsp;... and When |publisher=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613095121/http://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/heritage/famous-navy-quotes.html |archive-date=13 June 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Would to Heaven we had a navy able to reform those enemies to mankind or crush them into non-existence.|George Washington 15 August 1786, to Marquis de Lafayette<ref name="George Washington to Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, August 15, 1786">{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/mgw2.013/?sp=159&st=text |title=George Washington to Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, August 15, 1786 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=31 May 2019}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|Naval power . . . is the natural defense of the United States.|[[John Adams]]<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZZWBgAAQBAJ&q=naval%2520power%2520adams%2520navy%2520miller&pg=PA9 |title=The U.S. Navy: A History, Third Edition |last=Miller |first=Nathan |date=1997 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=978-1-61251-892-3 |page=9}}</ref>}}

The Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5yB7hMbYjjUC&pg=PG1|title=American Naval History, 1607–1865: Overcoming the Colonial Legacy|last=Dull|first=Jonathan R.|publisher=U. of Nebraska Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-8032-4471-9|pages=1–16|access-date=17 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126040429/https://books.google.com/books?id=5yB7hMbYjjUC&pg=PG1|archive-date=26 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> In the early stages of the [[American Revolutionary War]], [[Massachusetts]] had its own [[Massachusetts Naval Militia]]. The rationale for establishing a national navy was debated in the [[Second Continental Congress|Second]] [[Continental Congress]]. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, and make it easier to seek support from foreign countries. Detractors countered that challenging the British [[Royal Navy]], then the world's preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief [[George Washington]] resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going [[schooner]] [[USS Hannah|USS ''Hannah'']] to interdict British merchantmen and reported the captures to the Congress. On 13 October 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the purchase of two vessels to be armed for a cruise against British merchantmen; this resolution created the [[Continental Navy]] and is considered the first establishment of the U.S. Navy.<ref name="Continental"/> The Continental Navy achieved mixed results; it was successful in a number of engagements and raided many British merchant vessels, but it lost twenty-four of its vessels<ref name="love">{{cite book |last=Love | first=Robert W. Jr. |title=History of the US Navy |volume=One: 1775–1941 |location=Harrisburg |publisher=Stackpole Books |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-8117-1862-2}}</ref> and at one point was reduced to two in active service.<ref name="Howarth">{{cite book |last=Howarth |first=Steven |title=To Shining Sea: A history of the United States Navy 1776–1991 |location=New York |publisher=Random House |year=1991 |isbn=0-394-57662-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/toshiningseahist00howa}}</ref> In August 1785, after the Revolutionary War had drawn to a close, [[Congress of the Confederation|Congress]] had sold {{USS|Alliance|1778|2}}, the last ship remaining in the Continental Navy due to a lack of funds to maintain the ship or support a navy.<ref name="Alliance">{{cite DANFS |title=Alliance |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/a7/alliance-i.htm |access-date=31 August 2009}}</ref><ref name="AbbotVIPICXV">Abbot 1896, Volume I Part I Chapter XV</ref>

In 1972, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral [[Elmo Zumwalt]], authorized the Navy to celebrate its birthday on 13 October to honor the establishment of the Continental Navy in 1775.<ref name="New Navy Birthday">{{cite web |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/commemorations-toolkits/navy-birthday/OriginsNavy.html |title=Origins of the Navy |publisher=Naval History & Heritage Command |work=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] |access-date=1 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170430221936/https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/commemorations-toolkits/navy-birthday/OriginsNavy.html |archive-date=30 April 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Continental">{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq59-13.htm |title=Establishment of the Navy, 13&nbsp;October 1775 |publisher=US Navy |work=[[Naval History & Heritage Command]] |access-date=5 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990204022651/http://history.navy.mil/faqs/faq59-13.htm |archive-date=4 February 1999}}</ref>