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The United States Navy, or USN, has the mission "to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas." With some 343,000 active duty personnel, 129,000 reservists, 256 ships and more than 4,000 aircraft, they are a formidable force.
The United States Navy, or USN, has the mission "to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression and maintaining freedom of the seas." With some 343,000 active duty personnel, 129,000 reservists, 256 ships and more than 4,000 aircraft, they are a formidable force.
==Birth of the USN==
On 13 October 1775, the Continental Congress drafted what is considered by many to be the birth certificate of the USN:
"Resolved, that a swift sailing vessel, to carry ten carriage guns, and a proportional number of swivels, with eighty men, be fitted, with all possible dispatch for a cruise of three months, and that the commander be instructed to cruise eastward, for intercepting such transports as may be laden with warlike stores and other supplies for our enemies, and for such other purposes as the Congress shall direct... Resolved, that another vessel be fitted out for the same purposes..."
There are numerous men who played prominent roles in founding the USN, including [[George Washington]], Continental Navy officers [[Esek Hopkins]], [[John Barry]], and [[John Paul Jones]] as well as civilian representatives at the Continental Congress who argued for the establishing of a Navy, such as [[John Adams]], [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[Robert Morris]] Joseph Hewes]], and [[Silias Deane]]. Since so many men colluded in the establishing of a navy, the USN doesn't recognize one person, at the exclusion of others, to be the "Father of the Navy."