Honor the United States Navy; commemorate its 250th anniversary

(136th General Assembly)

(House
Concurrent Resolution Number 20)

A concurrent resolution

To honor the distinguished
service and exceptional valor of the men and women of the United
States Navy and to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.

Be it resolved by the House of
Representatives of the State of Ohio (the Senate concurring):

WHEREAS,
On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution
establishing what is now the United States Navy with "a swift
sailing vessel, to carry ten carriage guns, and a proportionable
number of swivels, with eighty men, be fitted, with all possible
despatch, for a cruise of three months…"; and

WHEREAS,
After the American War of Independence, the U.S. Constitution
empowered the new Congress "to provide and maintain a navy";
and

WHEREAS,
Acting on this authority, Congress established the Department of the
Navy on April 30, 1798; and

WHEREAS,
In 1972, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt authorized
official recognition of October 13 as the birthday of the U.S. Navy
"to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage, and to
provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the
naval service"; and

WHEREAS,
The State of Ohio has deep and abiding connections to the history and
heritage of the U.S. Navy, including the signal victory of Commodore
Oliver Hazard Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812
and the vital contributions of Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency
Service (WAVES) to a top-secret mission in Dayton during the Second
World War; and

WHEREAS,
The State of Ohio has produced numerous decorated Naval officers
throughout U.S. history, including Commander Abraham Whipple, who
commanded several ships in the Continental Navy during the
Revolutionary War and later, as a member of the Ohio Company, helped
found Marietta, Ohio; Lieutenant Commander William R. Hoel of Butler
County, who served with distinction in command of USS Pittsburg,
helping to secure the capture of Vicksburg during the Civil War; Rear
Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd of Cleveland, the highest ranking officer
to lose his life in the attack on Pearl Harbor, who posthumously
received the Medal of Honor for devotion to duty and extraordinary
courage; and Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King of Lorain, who held supreme
naval command in unprecedented simultaneous capacity as Chief of
Naval Operations and Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, during the
Second World War; and

WHEREAS,
Several astronauts with Naval backgrounds have hailed from Ohio,
including Lieutenant Neil A. Armstrong of Wapakoneta, a Naval aviator
during the Korean War and the first man to walk on the moon; Colonel
John H. Glenn, Jr. of Cambridge, a Marine Corps aviator during the
Second World War and Korean War and the first American to orbit the
earth; Captain James A. Lovell, Jr., a Naval aviator, pilot of the
Apollo 8 mission and the commander of the Apollo 13 mission; Colonel
Robert F. Overmyer of Lorain, a Marine aviator, Apollo support crew
member, and Space Shuttle commander; Captain Sunita L. Williams of
Euclid, who served on the International Space Station and is one of
the most experienced spacewalkers in history; and

WHEREAS,
The United States has honored the people of Ohio on numerous
occasions in U.S. history by naming four ships USS Ohio, a schooner
during the War of 1812, a ship of the line launched in 1820, a
Maine-class dreadnought battleship (BB-12) commissioned in 1904, and
the leading ship of a class of nuclear powered submarines (SSGN-726)
commissioned in 1981 and still in service; and

WHEREAS,
The United States has named a myriad of other ships after Ohio
locations, including USS Akron, USS Bucyrus Victory, USS Cincinnati
(five times), USS Cleveland (four times), and USS Columbus; and

WHEREAS,
Ohio has three active Navy Reserve Centers located in Akron,
Cincinnati, and Columbus, which provide support for Navy Reserve
units and hundreds of Sailors; and

WHEREAS,
for two-and-a-half centuries, millions of Americans have served –
and many have given the last full measure of devotion – as Sailors
who lived by the Navy's core values of Honor, Courage, and
Commitment; now therefore be it

RESOLVED,
That we, the members of the 136th General Assembly of the State of
Ohio, honor the distinguished service and exceptional valor of the
men and women of the United States Navy and commemorate the 250th
anniversary of its founding; and be it further

RESOLVED,
That the Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly
authenticated copies of this resolution to the Ohio Commission for
the U.S. Semiquincentennial, the commanding officers of the three
Navy Reserve Centers in Ohio, and the news media of Ohio.

Speaker __________________
of the House of Representatives.

President
__________________ of the Senate.

Adopted _____________________, 20____