Two ships. Ten guns apiece. Eighty men each, signed on for three months.
That was the entire United States Navy on the day it began, and nobody involved would have called it a navy. Congress had authorized a pair of armed merchantmen to go bother British supply ships off the New England coast. It was a raid, not a fleet.
On 13 October 2026 the service those two ships started turns 251 years old.
Quick Answer: The Navy birthday is 13 October. On that date in 1775 the Continental Congress authorized two armed vessels to intercept British supply transports, and the Navy counts that as its founding. The service turns 251 in 2026. Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, then Chief of Naval Operations, made the date official in 1972. It is a separate occasion from Navy Day, which falls on 27 October.
What Congress Actually Authorized in 1775
The Naval History and Heritage Command records the decision plainly. On 13 October 1775 the Continental Congress voted to fit out two vessels, each armed with ten carriage guns and a proportional number of swivel guns, each carrying a crew of eighty, for a cruise of three months.
Their job was narrow. British supply transports were carrying munitions and stores to British forces in America, and these two ships were meant to take them.
Read the resolution today and the small ambition is what stands out. No standing navy, no fleet, no strategy for command of the sea. A young Congress, at war, decided it could not let enemy supply ships sail unmolested, and voted the money for two ships.
Everything the Navy became grew out of that.
The Navy Was Founded Twice
It is the most interesting thing about the date.
The Continental Navy did not survive the Revolution. When the fighting ended there was no money to keep ships in commission, and Congress sold them off one by one. In August 1785 it sold the frigate Alliance, the last ship the Continental Navy owned.
For roughly nine years, the United States had no navy at all.
Nostalgia did not bring it back. The Barbary corsairs did. In 1793, Algerian ships seized eleven American merchant vessels, and a country with no warships learned what that meant. Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794 on 27 March 1794, authorizing six frigates. The service still carries some of those names.
So the Navy has two plausible founding dates, 1775 and 1794, and it chose the older one. That choice says something. It traces itself not to the law that built a permanent fleet, but to the moment Americans first decided to fight at sea.
Why 13 October and Not 27 October?
Plenty of people have a memory of Navy Day falling in late October, and that memory is correct. The two occasions are different.
Navy Day, 27 October. The Navy League of the United States organized the first one in 1922. They picked 27 October for Theodore Roosevelt, whose birthday it was. Roosevelt had served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and remains the loudest advocate for American sea power this country has produced. Navy Day faced outward, toward the public.
The Navy Birthday, 13 October. In 1972, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo Zumwalt designated 13 October as the Navy’s official birthday, in his words “to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage, and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service.”
That is the distinction in one line. Navy Day was for the country. The Navy Birthday is for the Navy, and for the families, retirees, and veterans who belong to it.
The Navy at 251
The two ships of 1775 carried ten guns and eighty men. It is worth holding that next to what the fleet commissioned this month.
On 3 October 2026, ten days before this year’s birthday, the Navy commissioned USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128) at Whittier, Alaska. It is an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, and only the second Flight III ship in the fleet. It carries the AN/SPY-6(V)1 Air and Missile Defense Radar and the Aegis Baseline 10 combat system, which together let her handle air warfare and ballistic missile defense at once. Displacement is about 9,700 tons. Huntington Ingalls built her at Pascagoula, Mississippi, and she will homeport at Naval Station Norfolk.
Nine thousand seven hundred tons, against two converted merchantmen with eighty men aboard. Two hundred and fifty one years is not a long time for a country, and it is a very long time for a navy.
How Sailors Mark the Day
Most commands hold a ceremony. Many hold a ball, and ball season runs from the birthday through the autumn, which is why dress uniforms come out of closets in October and stay out.
The cake-cutting is the part everyone recognizes. The oldest and youngest Sailors present cut it together, and the first slice passes from one to the other. That small ceremony says the whole point out loud. One generation hands the service to the next, and both ends of the line matter.
If you are attending, our guide to what medals to wear to mess dress covers the uniform, and our comparison of mini medals and full size medals explains which the occasion calls for.
Getting Your Rack Ready
October is when Navy racks get a close look, and when plenty of people find theirs is a tour or two out of date.
Our ribbon rack builder arranges everything in the correct order of precedence for the Navy and handles the devices. The count and sequence come out right before we mount anything. You can also browse the full range of Navy ribbons and military medals.
Not sure of the order? Our Navy ribbon order of precedence guide lists every award in sequence, and our guide to building a Navy ribbon rack walks through the mounting.
Use code STR2025 for 10% off your order.
Built in the USA
Super Thin Ribbons is a U.S.-based company, headquartered at 1602 Loop 11, Wichita Falls, Texas 76306. You can reach our team directly at 940-851-6220 or sa***@**************ns.com.
We make every set here and mount it to current regulations, ready to wear the day it arrives. If a ball is coming and your rack is not current, call us. We charge nothing extra for expedited production, and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet your date.
Frequently Asked Questions
13 October. The Navy turns 251 on 13 October 2026.
On that date in 1775 the Continental Congress authorized two armed vessels to intercept British supply transports, which the Navy counts as its founding. Admiral Elmo Zumwalt made the date official in 1972.
The naval service observes its birthday on 13 October. Navy Day falls on 27 October, began in 1922, and was organized by the Navy League for the public. They chose the date for Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday.
251 years old, counting from 13 October 1775.
Yes. Congress sold the frigate Alliance, its last ship, in August 1785. The United States had no navy until the Naval Act of 1794 authorized six frigates on 27 March 1794.
Dinner dress is the usual call, worn with miniature medals. Check the invitation, since the hosting command sets the uniform.
Thank You
Two hundred and fifty one years ago, two small ships went out to do something difficult with very little, because the alternative was doing nothing.
That is still most of the job. Most of what the Navy does never makes the news, and the people who do it rarely mention it afterward.
Thank you for your service, and happy birthday to the fleet. If you need your rack current before the ball, call us at 940-851-6220, and we will get it sorted.