United States Navy - Notable Sailors

Notable Sailors

Main article: List of United States Navy people

Many past and present United States historical figures have served in the Navy. Notable officers include John Paul Jones, John Barry (Continental Navy officer and first flag officer of the United States Navy), James Lawrence (whose last words "don't give up the ship" are memorialized in Bancroft Hall at the United States Naval Academy), Stephen Decatur, Jr., David Farragut, David Dixon Porter, Oliver Hazard Perry, Commodore Matthew Perry (whose Black Ships forced the opening of Japan), and Chester Nimitz, Admiral of the Pacific Fleet in World War II.

A number of presidents served in the Navy before or early in their political careers, including John F. Kennedy (who commanded the famous PT-109), Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush. Both Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt were the Assistant Secretary of the Navy prior to their presidencies. Many members of Congress served in the Navy, notably U.S. Senators Bob Kerrey, John McCain, and John Kerry. Other notable former members of the U.S. Navy include astronauts, entertainers, authors, and professional athletes.

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Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or sailors:

    “Every notable advance in technique or organization has to be paid for, and in most cases the debit is more or less equivalent to the credit. Except of course when it’s more than equivalent, as it has been with universal education, for example, or wireless, or these damned aeroplanes. In which case, of course, your progress is a step backwards and downwards.”
    —Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)

    “Why need Christians be still intolerant and superstitious? The simple-minded sailors were unwilling to cast overboard Jonah at his own request.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)