Sails of Discovery, Anchors of Defense Celebrate Two Birthdays, One Destiny

The U.S. Navy celebrates its 250^th birthday this Monday, October 13. Coincidentally, that day also marks the official celebration of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of America on October 12, 1492. These two events, centuries apart, show how this month celebrates our nation’s connection to the water, first through exploration and then through protection.

Columbus has long been revered as a patron saint of our country, long before he became the symbol of pride for Italian immigrants. By the 400^th anniversary of his landing in 1892, you’d be hard-pressed not to find evidence of this adoration. Chicago-style bravado won out over rivals like New York City, Washington, DC, and St. Louis to host the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.

It was this World’s Fair that first introduced the Ferris Wheel. While we honor the ride’s inventor, George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., in its name, Latin America refers to it as the rueda de Chicago (“Chicago Wheel”).

Beyond the Ferris Wheel, the fair’s true centerpiece was the massive pool constructed in Jackson Park. This represented the voyage of Columbus and included full-sized replicas of the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. The Columbus celebration became an international event. Besides the United States, the Queen of Spain and Pope Leo XIII were officially involved.

In honoring Columbus, America wasn’t just looking back—it was looking forward. The fair’s inventions, from the Ferris Wheel to electric lighting, symbolized a new world born from the old explorer’s daring. The World’s Columbian Exposition affirmed both the emerging sense of American exceptionalism and the pivotal role that Christopher Columbus played in getting the wheel rolling (so to speak).

But that’s not the only seagoing October milestone that shaped America’s destiny.

Recall the importance of the Royal Navy in maintaining the British Empire (upon which the sun never set). The Colonies naturally embraced this seagoing tradition. After all, the only way to get here from there was by boat (as Columbus so famously demonstrated). Just as the Old World’s fleets once opened new frontiers, the New World would soon build a navy to defend its own.

It was only natural, then, when it came time to break ranks from our British forebears, that George Washington sought to create a Continental Navy. Of course, the Continental Congress, in doing Continental Congress things, tabled the original motion. Unwilling to wait, the Father of Our Country acted like a father and bought the schooner USS Hannah, paying for it with his own personal funds.

The Continentals outfitted the fishing boat with four guns. It proceeded under Washington’s orders to “cruize [cruise] against such vessels as may be found… bound inward and outward to and from Boston, in the service of the [British] army, and to take and seize all such vessels, laden with soldiers, arms, ammunition, or provisions… which you shall have good reason to suspect are in such service.”¹

Washington acquired several other merchant ships similarly. On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution creating the Continental Navy. That’s why we celebrate the U.S. Navy Birthday on that day.

What do these seemingly unrelated moments in history have in common?

I mean, other than being bold new journeys.

And being based on water.

Today, scholars and historians recognize Columbus’s voyage as one of the most significant turning points in history. Ironically, the world’s “greatest discovery” was also the world’s “greatest mistake.” But let’s not be too harsh on Columbus. After all, it was Theodore Roosevelt who famously said, “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.”

Perhaps it wasn’t Columbus’s fault. Daniel Boorstin, in The Discoverers, lays much of the blame on Ptolemy, the authority during the time of Columbus. The Italian sailor relied on the Greek mathematician as a basis for his nautical calculations. How was Columbus to know that, not only would the Earth be larger than Ptolemy thought, but that there would be an uncharted continent in between Spain and Asia?

Rather than Roosevelt, maybe James Joyce (in his Ulysses) describes the situation best. He says, “A man of genius makes no mistakes. His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.” Columbus’s maps were mistaken. There’s equally no doubt his voyage became a portal of discovery.

Columbus’s tiny boats, against all odds, made the hazardous trans-Atlantic round trip. Similarly, Washington’s small navy scored some impressive victories. Who smiles, remembering the battle of the Bonhomme Richard? I do. It was one of the first models I ever built. It was a ship in a bottle.

As a wide-eyed nine-year-old, I read all about the ship. Smallish by Royal Navy standards and captained by the incomparable John Paul Jones, America’s smallish 42-gun frigate posed no match against the Royal Navy’s Serapis and its 44 much larger guns. After four hours of fighting, the beleaguered and burning Bonhomme Richard began taking on water, its briny fate sealed. The Serapis’ captain shouted to Jones, calling on him to surrender. Jones’ unforgettable reply: “I have not yet begun to fight.” His men then boarded and seized the Serapis.

What young boy is not inspired by that story? The underdog, on the cusp of defeat, heroically overcomes all odds to capture victory. The closest non-sports version of this I can think of is Brigadier General Tony McAuliffe. He was acting commander of the 101^st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge. When the Germans surrounded the unit, a Nazi messenger asked McAuliffe to surrender. Imagine the courier’s surprise to hear McAuliffe’s iconic one-word defiant reply: “Nuts!” The 101^st continued to fight until the Germans were pushed back.

Makes you gush with patriotic pride.

This stoic resolve echoes throughout America’s most significant accomplishments. When W.S. Mallory asked Thomas Edison about his failure to create a new nickel-iron storage battery after 9,000 attempts, Edison remained steadfast and optimistic. His response to Mallory: “Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results! I know several thousand things that won’t work.”² (This quote is often misattributed to the more familiar light bulb rather than the battery, although the sentiment is the same.)

As Columbus sailed against skeptics who feared he’d vanish over the horizon, the Continental Navy fought against an overwhelming British fleet with odds that seemed impossible. In both cases, courage conquered doubt. What seemed recklessly risky turned into defining triumphs. Sure, the nature of the risk differed, as did the nature of the reward. While Columbus sought to discover new trade routes, Washington wished to prove that a new nation could defend itself. They both represent acts of daring beside an unforgiving brute force—one against nature, the other against man.

The two events stand out as bookends to a human drama that continues to play out. Columbus marked the beginning. The birth of the U.S. Navy (along with the Revolutionary War) marked the end of the beginning. Columbus’s brave voyage fertilized the seed of a new world, one not simply physical, but philosophical. The Revolutionary War saw that seed germinate through to the birth of a new nation.

As we celebrate both Columbus Day and the U.S. Navy birthday, let’s remember that the story of America is written in the trade winds and ocean currents.

From Columbus’s caravels to America’s aircraft carriers, history’s tides prove that those who dare the sea shape the destiny of nations.

The question for us today is this: Is space the new sea? And who will dare to sail it?

¹ https://www.massmoments.org/moment-details/washington-commissions-first-naval-officer.html (accessed October 4, 2025)
² Dyer, Frank Lewis, and Martin, Thomas Commerford, Edison: His Life and Inventions, Volume II, Harper & Brothers, London, 1910, p. 616