FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2015
Eye on the Fleet
san francisco
VOL. 26 NO. 42
WWW.CNIC.NAVY.MIL/KEYWEST NAVAL AIR STATION KEY WEST, FLORIDA
Navy celebrates 240 years of service: Ready then, now, always
(Oct. 10, 2015) Navy Band Southwest’s 32nd Street Brass Band entertains a crowd at Pier 80 during San Francisco Fleet Week 2015. San Francisco Fleet Week, now in its 35th year, celebrates the rich Navy tradition in the Bay area and facilitates annual disaster preparedness training between the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and local first responders.
U.S. Navy photo by MC3 Lenny LaCrosse
inside: TOGETHER End domestic violence . . . . 3 BIRTHDAY BLAST NMC cake cutting. . . . . . . . . 5 IN YOUR EYE OC training. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 ENERGY Savings on display . . . . . . . . 8 TOP OF PAGE ONE: An F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the Thunderbolts of Marine Strike Fighter Squadron (VMFA) 251 lands on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71).
U.S. Navy photo by MC3 Cody Babin
Sailors at Naval Air Station Key West celebrate the Navy’s 240th birthday with a cake cutting ceremony Oct. 10. A tradition calls for the youngest and oldest Sailors, in this instance AEAN Riley Barbour and Lt. Cmdr. John Fairweather, to cut the first piece. The Navy has had a presence in Key West since 1823, when the Mosquito Fleet established a depot at what is now Mallory Square. From NAS Key West Public Affairs
T
he Navy celebrated its 240th birthday Tuesday, recognizing action by the Continental Congress in 1775 to arm ships for the purpose of “... intercepting such transports as may be laden with warlike stores and other supplies for our enemies.” According to the Naval History and Heritage Command, a number of
people played a role in the Navy’s establishment. “The importance of the sea as a highway, a source of food or a battlefield, if necessary, was well understood by the American colonists. When the Revolution came, it was a natural impulse, therefore, that many men in numerous locations would play prominent roles in the founding of a national navy,” NHHC notes on its website, www. history.navy.mil.
In Key West, it was John Simonton who, 193 years ago, urged the Navy to establish a base here. Simonton purchased the island in 1821 and immediately began lobbying the government to establish a naval base because of Key West’s strategic location. Simonton also knew the Navy could bring law and order to the town. On March 25, 1822, Naval officer Matthew Perry sailed the schooner
Shark to Key West and surveyed the island to determine if it would make a suitable port. In April 1823 Navy Commodore David Porter arrived with his ships, referred to as the “Mosquito Fleet,” to establish a depot. The fleet, with 1,100 Sailors, patrolled Caribbean waters and the Gulf of Mexico, striking pirates and escorting American ships to safety. By 1860, the Navy was once again dispatched to
combat illegal slavers bringing human cargo through the Caribbean. During the short period in which they were active before the Civil War, the Navy squadron captured three ships and brought 1,432 captive Africans to Key West - the closest American port. The Navy continued to operate as a naval base for nearly a century, until its disestablishment in 1974, see Navy page 2