Title
Resolution to bring to Philadelphia the main celebrations of the 250th Anniversaries of the Navy and Marine Corps.
Body
WHEREAS, The Navy was founded in Philadelphia on October 13, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress authorized its first ships at Independence Hall, birthplace of the United States; and
WHEREAS, In Philadelphia later that year the Navy commissioned its first ship, and granted its first commission to John Barry, the Father of the American Navy, who is buried in Philadelphia and honored with a nearby statue and a bridge over the Delaware; and
WHEREAS, The Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia commissioned John Paul Jones, who on the Delaware River was the first to raise an American national flag over a Navy vessel; and
WHEREAS, The Marine Corps was founded in Philadelphia on November 10, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress at Independence Hall authorized the recruitment of two battalions; and
WHEREAS, The Marine Corps was born later that year at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, where its first commissioned officer Capt. Samuel Nicholas held its first recruiting drive; and
WHEREAS, The first Marine amphibious operation was mounted from Philadelphia, sailing to the Bahamas and seizing from the British gunpowder badly needed by the Americans; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia has continued to design and build ships, and contribute sons and daughters to lead the Navy and the Marine Corps ever since their birth in Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, The Navy’s 250-year history should be celebrated by assembling ships from every major war the Navy has fought, which is only possible in Philadelphia because it has preserved on the Delaware the USS Olympia, sole survivor of the Spanish-American War, whose victory made the U.S. a world naval power; and
WHEREAS, The Marine Corps’ 250th Birthday should be celebrated by rebuilding Tun Tavern, where the Marine Corps was born, which will serve as a mecca bringing Marines to Philadelphia; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Secretary of the Navy should designate Philadelphia and both banks of the Delaware as the site of the main celebrations of the 250th Birthdays of the Navy and Marine Corps in October and November 2025, and authorize those services to participate and cooperate by bringing active-duty ships, aircraft, equipment, and personnel to represent the Navy and Marine Corps of today.
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