Bryan J. Dickerson – October 9, 2025 6:43 PM
CAMDEN, N.J. – Cannon salutes welcomed U.S. Navy warships into the city of Brotherly Love Thursday morning, kicking off the sea service’s 250th birthday celebration with a parade of Navy and Coast Guard vessels up the Delaware River. People lined up to witness the historic occasion at numerous locations on both the Pennsylvania and New Jersey sides of the river.
The Coast Guard cutter USCGC Lawrence Lawson (WPC 1120) led Littoral Combat Ships USS Billings (LCS-15) and USS Cooperstown (LCS-23), destroyer USS Lassen (DDG-82), amphibious assault ship USS Arlington (LPD-24), and a U.S. Naval Academy sailing ship.
As the ships passed between Fort Mifflin, Pa., and Fort Mercer at Red Bank Battlefield Park in New Jersey, re-enactors at both locations fired off cannon salutes to welcome them to the birthplace of the U.S. Navy. Both forts played a major role in the defense of Philadelphia in the fall of 1777, when the British captured the city for several months.
Overhead local news helicopters offered viewers at home live video of the ships as they steamed up the Delaware River and into Philadelphia.
The parade of ships also featured flyovers by Navy F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Lightning IIs, F/A-18 Super Hornets and a Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey.
The ships then berthed at the Philly Navy Yard, Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia and Camden and Gloucester City in New Jersey. Daily public tours of the ships are on offer starting Friday and run until next Wednesday, Oct. 15.
Tours are also offered at Philadelphia three historic Navy ships – cruiser USS Olympia, submarine USS Becuna (SS-319), and battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62). On the Navy’s 250th birthday on Monday, New Jersey utility company PSE&G has paid for the public to tour USS New Jersey for free.
The museum at battleship USS New Jersey hosted a ceremony Thursday afternoon unveiling its temporary display of the stern plate of aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6), one of the very few remaining pieces of the most decorated ship in U.S. Navy history. For many years, the stern plate had been proudly displayed at the Municipal Building in River Vale, New Jersey. The stern plate will ultimately be included in the new National Museum of the U.S. Navy that’s currently under development in Washington, D.C.
The seventh Navy ship to bear the storied name, Enterprise participated in many of the major naval battles of World War II, most notably the pivotal June 1942 Battle of Midway. Consigned to the scrappers in 1958, Enterprise’s stern plate was fortuitously saved from historical oblivion by Henry Hoffman, a supervisor at the company overseeing the scrapping.
Today kicks off seven days of commemorative events and celebrations in honor of the 250th Navy birthday and the men and women who proudly served and currently serve in the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Homecoming 250, a volunteer organization based in the Delaware Valley, is coordinating the events, which include a Sunday night concert featuring Grammy award winner and Philadelphia native Patti LaBelle. Other events happening during the week-long celebration include a veterans reunion picnic at Independence Mall on Sunday afternoon, local radio station WHYY’s preview of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden on Thursday night, a two-day Navy and Marine Corps history conference and a military & veteran suicide prevention walk starting at Penn’s Landing on Sunday morning.
Monday, Oct. 13 is the official birthday of the U.S. Navy. On that date in 1775, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution authorizing the acquisition and fitting out of two armed sailing vessels and the creation of a three-member to oversee this endeavor. On Monday a commemorative event to mark the Navy’s 250th birthday will take place at Independence Mall with a planned flyover by the Blue Angels Navy aerial demonstration team. That night, the skies over Philadelphia will light up with a fireworks display in honor of the sea service’s birthday.
The Department of the Navy was also born in Philadelphia. Having won its independence, the new nation’s Congress created the Navy Department on April 30, 1798, with Benjamin Stoddert selected as the first Secretary of the Navy.
Next month, Homecoming 250 will host a series of commemorative events in Philadelphia in honor of the 250th Birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps, which was also founded in Philadelphia.