Naval Review

A Naval Review is an event where the whole (or a very large part) of the United States Navy is paraded to be reviewed by the President of the United States or the Secretary of the Navy. It often includes warships and delegates from other national navies. It is more regular and frequent than its British equivalent, the Fleet Review, and often occurs on a Navy Day.

This article is about reviews of the US Fleet. For fleet reviews of the Royal Navy, see Fleet review (Commonwealth realms). For the magazine, see Naval Review (magazine).

President Harry S. Truman (waving his hat) with his party on board USS Renshaw during the Navy Day Fleet Review in New York Harbor, 27 October 1945. USS Missouri is in the right background, and Navy planes are flying in formation overhead.

Following is a list of past Naval Reviews, by President. Each was reviewed by the President, unless otherwise noted.

Nineteenth century

Grover Cleveland

• Apr to June 1893, at Hampton Roads – International Naval Review, part of the Columbian Exposition – President on board the despatch vessel USS Dolphin, with the following other U.S. naval vessels present:
  • USS Atlanta
  • USS Bennington[1]
  • USS Charleston
  • USS Chicago (1885)

Before World War One

Theodore Roosevelt

• 1903 at Oyster Bay, New York – Presidential Fleet Review
• 2 September–4 September 1906, Oyster Bay, New York – U.S. naval vessels included:
  • USS Florida
  • USS Truxtun
  • USS Yankee
• 16 December 1907, Hampton Roads – Send-off for the Great White Fleet, which included USS Georgia, 15 other battleships, a torpedo boat squadron and transports, USS Truxtun
• 10 June 1907 – Presidential Review, from Fort Monroe as part of Jamestown Exposition which laid the groundwork for Naval Station, Norfolk – U.S. naval vessels included USS Georgia, from which 11 June was proclaimed "Georgia Day"
• 6 May–8 May 1908, San Francisco Bay, reviewed by Secretary of the Navy, which included the following units of the Pacific Fleet:
  • USS California
  • USS Georgia
  • USS Washington
  • USS Wisconsin
• 22 February 1909, Hampton Roads – Return of the Great White Fleet, which included the following vessels:
  • USS Idaho
  • USS New Hampshire
  • USS Wisconsin

William Howard Taft

• 2 November 1910 – Before departure for France
• early November 1911, New York – U.S. naval vessels included:
  • USS South Carolina
  • USS Washington
• 1 April 1912, off Yonkers, New York, which included USS Wisconsin
• 14 October 1912, North River – USS Delaware and USS E-1 passed before the President and the Secretary of the Navy George von L. Meyer
• 10 October–15 October 1912, Philadelphia – USS Iowa (BB-4)

1914–1919: Woodrow Wilson

USS Arizona at the New York City review, 26 December 1918. She was the first of ten dreadnoughts to parade past Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels.

• May 1915, New York Harbor – inc. USS G-4
• 26 December 1918 – New York – reviewed by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels from the deck of the yacht USS Mayflower and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Delano Roosevelt from USS Aztec, which also included USS Wisconsin
• September 1919, San Francisco, including USS Crane (during which she was visited by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels on 4 September) and USS Dent
• 12 September 1919, Seattle, Washington – U.S. naval vessels included USS Seattle
• late December 1919, North River – Victory Naval Review – U.S. naval vessels included USS Florida

Inter-war

Warren G. Harding

• 28 April 1921, Hampton Roads – Reviewed by President Warren G. Harding, which included the following U.S. naval vessels:
  • USS Delaware
  • USS Dickerson
• April 1921, Norfolk, Virginia, which included the following U.S. naval vessels:
  • USS Graham
  • USS Dahlgren
• 1923, Seattle, Washington, which included USS Arizona[2] and USS Chase

Calvin Coolidge

USS Maryland during the June 1927 review

• June 1927, Hampton Roads – Naval vessels included:
  • USS Seattle
  • USS Concord
  • USS La Vallette
  • USS Somers
  • USS Camden
  • USS Coghlan

Franklin D. Roosevelt

USS Chicago (CA-29) underway off New York City, during 31 May 1934 fleet review.

• 31 May 1934, New York Harbor, which included the following U.S. naval vessels:
  • USS Chicago (CA-29)
  • USS Salt Lake City
  • USS Dickerson
  • USS Chester
• September–November 1935, San Diego, California which included the following U.S. naval vessels:
  • USS Philip
  • USS Crowninshield
  • USS Concord
• 12 July–14 July 1938, San Francisco, California – USS Houston carried President Roosevelt and also included USS Concord.

1940 to 1945

• 
  USS Texas, 1940 review
• 
  USS Missouri in the Panama Canal en route to the 1945 review
• 
  Truman, 1945 review
• 
  USS New York at the 1945 review

• Navy Day, 27 October 1940

Harry S. Truman

• Navy Day Fleet Review in New York Harbor, 27 October 1945

Post-war to present

Dwight Eisenhower

International Naval Review – 1957

• 11 June–13 June 1957, Hampton Roads – International Naval Review on 350th anniversary of founding of Jamestown, Virginia, which involved 113 ships from seventeen nations, including the French anti-aircraft cruiser De Grasse and the following U.S. naval vessels:[3]
  • USS Saratoga
  • USS Iowa (BB-61)
  • USS Canberra – Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson embarked
  • USS Macon
  • USS Albany
  • USS Northampton
  • USS Norfolk – Flagship for Admiral Jerauld Wright, Commander-in-Chief U.S. Atlantic Fleet and Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic
  • USS Forrest Royal
  • USS Charles H. Roan
  • USS Hyman
  • USS Hunt
  • USS Donner
  • USS Ray
  • USS Cavalla

• 
  USS Saratoga
• 
  USS Randolph
• 
  USS Iowa
• 
  USS Canberra

• 26 June 1959, USS Lake St. Louis reviewed by the President and by Queen Elizabeth II, which included USS Forrest Royal and USS Forrest Sherman

Gerald Ford

• 1976, New York Harbor – International Naval Review for United States Bicentennial, which included USS Forrestal as host ship on whose flight deck on 4 July the President rang in the Bicentennial. American ships were joined with vessels from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, West Germany, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, the Soviet Union, Israel, Egypt, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, South Africa, The Netherlands, & Romania. The vessels included[4]

• • USS Farragut
  • USS Dale
  • USS Mount Whitney
  • USCGC Eagle
  • HMS London
  • HMS Bacchante
  • HMS Lowestoft
  • HMY Britannia
  • HMCS Iroquois
  • HMAS Hobart
  • FS Duperré
  • HNLMS Tromp
  • ENS El Horreya
  • SAS President Kruger
  • INS Yaffo
  • INS Tarashish
  • NRP Alfonso Cerqeria
  • NRP Honório Barreto
  • NRP Sagres
  • HNoMS Trondheim
  • HSwMS Älvsnabben
  • ARV Zulia
  • BAP Independencia
  • ITS Amerigo Vespucci
  • CNS Esmeralda
  • ARC Gloria
  • FGS Gorch Fock
  • USSRS Tovarishch
  • ROS Mircea
  • ARA Libertad
  • ESPS Juan Sebastián de Elcano

Ronald Reagan

• 1986, International Naval Review for the re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty which included USS John F. Kennedy as the flagship of the review fleet.

Bill Clinton

• 3 July–9 July 2000, New York City – Sixth International Naval Review, which included the following U.S naval vessels:
  • USS John F. Kennedy
  • USS John Hancock
  • USS Nassau
  • USS Hue City

References

1. "Bennington I". DANFS.
2. Paul Stillwell, Battleship Arizona: An Illustrated History (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1991), 303. ISBN 0-87021-023-8. OCLC 23654474.
3. USS Albany Web Site
4. https://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/04/archives/warships-in-naval-review-form-a-fearsome-armada.html

External links

• The short film GATHERING OF MEN AND SHIPS, THE (1977) is available for free download at the Internet Archive