Sea control
Establishing the ability to use a body of water while denying it to an adversary — the precondition for everything else a navy does, and the mission the surface and submarine forces are built around.
End strengths are FY2026 authorized (Public Law 119-60). Budget is FY2026 enacted; fleet count as of October 2025.
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, established by the Continental Congress on October 13, 1775. It operates the largest fleet in the world by displacement, and it is the only navy that can generate sustained combat power in every ocean simultaneously.
The Navy’s statutory mission, set out in Title 10 of the U.S. Code, is to be organized, trained and equipped primarily for prompt and sustained combat incident to operations at sea. In practice the fleet does four things: it controls sea lanes so commerce and military sealift can move; it projects power ashore with carrier aviation, missiles and Marines; it carries the sea-based leg of the nuclear deterrent in ballistic missile submarines; and it maintains a forward presence that shapes events without a shot being fired.
The Navy is one of two services inside the Department of the Navy — the other is the Marine Corps, which the Navy transports, supplies and supports. That relationship is not an administrative accident. It is the reason the United States can put a combined-arms ground force ashore anywhere in the world from international waters, without needing anyone’s permission to use a base.
The fleet is organized around the carrier strike group and the amphibious ready group, but the majority of the Navy is not on a warship. Roughly 198,000 civilians run the shipyards, research laboratories and depots; the submarine force operates independently and largely invisibly; and Military Sealift Command’s largely civilian-crewed ships carry the fuel, ammunition and vehicles that make a distant campaign possible at all.
The Navy’s enduring functions have changed remarkably little since Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote them down in 1890 — what has changed is the range and speed at which they are carried out.
Establishing the ability to use a body of water while denying it to an adversary — the precondition for everything else a navy does, and the mission the surface and submarine forces are built around.
Carrier air wings, Tomahawk-armed surface ships and submarines, and embarked Marine forces let the fleet strike or land ashore from international waters without a host nation’s permission.
Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines carry the most survivable leg of the nuclear triad; the Columbia class now entering construction will carry it into the 2080s.
Protecting shipping through chokepoints — Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb, Malacca — and countering piracy, trafficking and state harassment of commercial traffic.
Roughly a third of the fleet is deployed or underway at any moment, giving national leadership options that do not require a deployment decision to begin.
Hospital ships, amphibious ships and carrier aviation have made the Navy the fastest-arriving American response to overseas disasters for seventy years.
The Navy divides the world between two fleet commands and seven numbered fleets, supported by five systems commands that design, buy and sustain everything the fleet uses.
Mans, trains and equips Atlantic-based forces from Norfolk, Virginia.
The same function for the Pacific, headquartered at Pearl Harbor — the largest fleet command.
Ships, submarines and combat systems; the largest systems command, with more than 80,000 people.
Life-cycle support of naval aircraft, engines and airborne weapons.
SEAL Teams and Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen, in support of U.S. Special Operations Command.
Strategic sealift and the underway replenishment ships that keep the fleet at sea.
The numbered fleets each own a slice of ocean. Their boundaries have barely moved since the Cold War.
| 2nd Fleet | Atlantic and Arctic approaches | Norfolk, Virginia |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd Fleet | Eastern and northern Pacific | San Diego, California |
| 4th Fleet | Caribbean, Central and South America | Mayport, Florida |
| 5th Fleet | Arabian Gulf, Red Sea, Indian Ocean | Manama, Bahrain |
| 6th Fleet | Europe and Africa | Naples, Italy |
| 7th Fleet | Indo-Pacific — the largest forward-deployed fleet | Yokosuka, Japan |
| 10th Fleet | Cyber, networks and signals intelligence | Fort Meade, Maryland |
The Navy has been abolished once and nearly abolished several times. Its history is the story of a country repeatedly deciding it did not need a fleet, and then discovering that it did.
On October 13, 1775 the Continental Congress authorized the purchase of two armed vessels to intercept British supply ships — the act the Navy observes as its birthday. The Continental Navy that grew from it was small, improvised and largely unsuccessful against the Royal Navy, though John Paul Jones made its reputation. It did not survive the peace: with no power to tax under the Articles of Confederation, Congress sold the last ship in 1785 and the United States had no navy at all.
Barbary corsairs seizing American merchant ships forced the issue. The Naval Act of March 27, 1794 authorized six frigates — United States, Constellation, Constitution, Congress, President and Chesapeake — and on April 30, 1798 John Adams signed the act creating a separate Department of the Navy. The Quasi-War with France and then the War of 1812 made the fleet permanent. USS Constitution, launched in 1797, is still a commissioned warship.
Technology repeatedly reset the fleet. The duel between USS Monitor and CSS Virginia at Hampton Roads on March 9, 1862 ended the age of wooden warships in a single afternoon. The Great White Fleet’s circumnavigation from 1907 to 1909 announced American sea power to the world. The Second World War transformed the Navy beyond recognition: carrier aviation displaced the battleship as the decisive arm, and the Pacific campaign was fought at a scale no navy had attempted. Nuclear propulsion arrived with USS Enterprise, commissioned November 25, 1961.
The modern Navy is contending with a problem it has not faced since 1945 — a peer competitor building warships faster than it can. That pressure produced the re-establishment of 2nd Fleet in the Atlantic in 2018, the cancellation of the Constellation-class frigate in 2025, and the Golden Fleet initiative with its return to a high–low mix of ships.
Congress authorizes the purchase of armed vessels to intercept British supply ships — the date observed as the Navy’s birthday.
With no taxing power under the Articles of Confederation, Congress sells the last Continental Navy ship and the United States is left without a navy.
The Naval Act authorizes United States, Constellation, Constitution, Congress, President and Chesapeake.
John Adams signs the act creating a separate department; Benjamin Stoddert becomes the first Secretary of the Navy.
The undeclared naval war with France establishes the Navy as a permanent institution rather than a wartime expedient.
The first battle between ironclads, at Hampton Roads, ends the age of wooden warships.
Sixteen battleships circumnavigate the globe, announcing the United States as a naval power.
Protecting transatlantic convoys in the First World War establishes sea-lane defense as a permanent Navy mission.
The fleet grows by more than an order of magnitude and carrier aviation replaces the battleship as its decisive arm.
The world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is commissioned, giving the fleet effectively unlimited range.
U.S. 2nd Fleet is re-established at Norfolk and declared fully operational, restoring a dedicated Atlantic and Arctic command.
The Constellation-class frigate is cancelled and a new high–low shipbuilding plan is launched, with the largest shipbuilding request since 1962.
The Navy is in the middle of its largest recapitalization since the 1980s, driven by an aging fleet, a shipbuilding industrial base under strain, and a Chinese navy that now outnumbers it in hulls. The FY2027 request funded 34 ships — the largest shipbuilding request since 1962.
The replacement for the Ohio-class ballistic missile boats, and the Navy’s number-one acquisition priority; no other program is allowed to delay it.
The backbone of the undersea force, and the class the AUKUS agreement will begin transferring to Australia from 2032.
A high–low mix built around a new guided missile battleship, the BBG(X), with long-range fires and command of manned and unmanned formations.
The Constellation-class frigate was cancelled in November 2025; its replacement is based on the Coast Guard’s proven National Security Cutter design.
Large and extra-large unmanned vessels intended to add magazine depth and sensor coverage without adding crews.
A new carrier class with electromagnetic launch, and the first carrier-based unmanned aircraft — a refueling drone that extends the air wing’s reach.
Navy rank titles are unlike the other services, because they descend from the age of sail rather than from land armies. Enlisted Sailors are Seamen and then Petty Officers; the senior enlisted are Chiefs, a distinct professional class with its own mess and its own initiation. Officers run from Ensign to Admiral. Pay grades still map to the joint scale: E-1 to E-9, W-2 to W-5, and O-1 to O-10.
The Navy discontinued the W-1 grade for its cyber warrant program in 2025 and returned to accessing warrant officers at CWO2. Fleet Admiral, the five-star grade, has been vacant since 1966. Devices shown are schematic diagrams of each pay-grade tier, not reproductions of official insignia artwork.
The Navy is the service most defined by custom rather than regulation — much of its identity was settled at sea long before anyone wrote it down.
Navy blue and gold. The pairing has been in use since the nineteenth century and gives the Naval Academy its colors and its athletic identity.
Adopted by Executive Order 10812 on April 24, 1959 and first shown publicly that same month. A dark blue field with yellow fringe, bearing the pictorial portion of the Department of the Navy seal inside a yellow rope ring, above a scroll reading UNITED STATES NAVY.
Uncommonly among the services, the Navy has never formally adopted a motto. Semper Fortis and Non sibi sed patriae circulate unofficially, and Forged by the Sea is a recruiting line — none of them is official.
Honor, Courage, Commitment — shared with the Marine Corps, and codified in the Sailor’s Creed that every Sailor learns in recruit training.
Written in 1906 by Charles A. Zimmermann with lyrics by Alfred H. Miles, originally as a Naval Academy march for the Army–Navy game. Eternal Father, Strong to Save serves as the Navy Hymn.
A Sailor who has never crossed the equator is a pollywog; after the ceremony presided over by King Neptune, a shellback. It is one of the oldest continuously observed traditions at sea, now a voluntary morale event.
October 13, 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized the purchase of two armed vessels to intercept British supply ships. The Navy was then disbanded entirely in 1785 and refounded by the Naval Act of March 27, 1794, which authorized the six original frigates — so the modern continuous Navy dates to 1794, while the birthday is observed on the 1775 date.
For fiscal year 2026 Congress authorized 344,600 active-duty Sailors and 57,500 in the Navy Reserve, supported by roughly 198,000 Navy civilians. That is an increase of more than 12,000 active-duty Sailors over the previous year.
293 ships in the deployable battle force as of October 2025, including 11 aircraft carriers. Federal law requires the Navy to maintain not fewer than 11 operational carriers. Ship counts move constantly as vessels commission and decommission, so the battle force number is a snapshot rather than a fixed figure.
The Navy has no official motto — it is the only U.S. armed service that has never adopted one. Semper Fortis, meaning always courageous, and Non sibi sed patriae, not for self but for country, are both widely used but unofficial. Forged by the Sea is a recruiting slogan.
Enlisted ranks run Seaman Recruit, Seaman Apprentice, Seaman, then Petty Officer Third, Second and First Class, then Chief Petty Officer, Senior Chief and Master Chief. Officers run Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain, then Rear Admiral lower half through Admiral.
Navy blue and gold. The combination dates to the nineteenth century and carries through the service flag, the Naval Academy and Navy heraldry generally.
Both are services within the Department of the Navy. The Navy operates ships, submarines and naval aircraft and controls the sea; the Marine Corps is an expeditionary combined-arms force that the Navy carries, supplies and puts ashore. Marines serve aboard Navy ships, and Navy corpsmen and chaplains serve with Marine units.
The Navy’s standard power-projection formation: an aircraft carrier with its embarked air wing of roughly 60 aircraft, escorted by guided missile cruisers and destroyers and typically supported by an attack submarine and a supply ship. It can conduct sustained strike operations without any land base.
The Navy’s share of the FY2026 enacted Department of the Navy budget was $248.9 billion, out of a departmental total of $306.7 billion that also funds the Marine Corps.
USS Constitution, launched in 1797 as one of the six original frigates, is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. She is still crewed by active-duty Sailors and berthed in Boston.
Sparta Pewter USA builds custom coins, awards, gifts and unit recognition pieces for the U.S. Navy.