Carpentersville VFW hosts U.S. Navy ceremony

Carpentersville VFW Post 5915 invites the community to attend the 233rd year of the U.S. Navy ceremony and celebration at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13 at Carpenters Park, Lord Avenue and Maple Street.

Dinner will be served at the post home immediately following the ceremony, VRFW Post 5915, 301 Lake Marian Road, Carpentersville. Phone (847) 428-4836, Web site FVW5915.org. Admission is free.

The United States Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, established during the War of

Independence by the Continental Congress on 13 October 1775, which date we observe as the Navy

Birthday. After the War of Independence, the ships of the Continental Navy were sold off, and the

seamen and officers let go. The Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1789, empowered Congress

"to provide and maintain a Navy." In the year 1794 Congress first acted on that power, in response

to international crises, by authorizing the procuring and manning of six frigates. Three of those frigates, USS United States, USS Constellation, and USS Constitution, were completed and launched in 1797. From 1794 until 1798, administration of the naval affairs of the United States was the responsibility of the Department of War. On 30 April 1798, Congress established the Department

of the Navy. They did this in order to meet the need for an executive department responsible solely for, and staffed with persons expert in, naval affairs, on the eve of the commencement of armed hostilities with the naval forces of France, the conflict known as the Quasi-War. Benjamin Stoddert, a Maryland merchant who had served as secretary of the Continental Board of War during the American Revolution, became the first Secretary of the Navy.