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Despite the official change, Navy Day continues to be widely celebrated on October 27, after being deeply entrenched into Navy tradition for more than a quarter – century. Consequently, the Navy’s birthday was officially changed that year from October 27 to October 13. Naval historians conducting research in 1970 determined the authentic birth date of the United States Navy was October 13, 1775. They continued to organize events celebrating the original Navy Day on October 27, well attended by both civilians and Navy personnel. As a civilian organization, the Navy League was not affected by Johnson’s directive. military: Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, and now the newly created Space Force. Johnson designated the third Saturday in May as Armed Forces Day, a joint celebration recognizing all six traditional branches of the U.S. But, since the crew used to congregate around the 'scuttlebutt', that is where the rumors about the ship or voyage would begin. Even in todays Navy a drinking fountain is referred to as such.
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Johnson, announced that Armed Forces Day would officially replace Navy Day commencing the following year. The cask from which the ships crew took their drinking water like a water fountain was the 'scuttlebutt'. Navy Day was last officially observed in 1949 when the first Secretary of Defense, Louis A. Truman arrived to review the fleet in New York Harbor. The 1945 celebration was particularly grand and memorable when sitting President Harry S. ports where public celebrations were held. Navy participated each year by dispatching ships to various U.S. a drinking fountain for use by the crew of a vessel 2. Navy Day was traditionally celebrated with pomp and circumstance between 19. October 27 also happens to be the birthday of one of the Navy’s most ardent supporters, President Theodore Roosevelt, who once served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and had supported a Navy Day. At the time, October 27 was considered by many to be the birthday of the United States Navy, based on a document presented to the Continent Congress on this date in 1775 that supported the purchase of a fleet of merchant ships to form an American colonial navy. Navy Day was first celebrated in 1922 by the Navy League of the United States, a civilian nonprofit organization, as a day to pay tribute to the men and women we call sailors. Have you got a Big Question you'd like us to answer? If so, let us know by emailing us at. The next time someone asks you what the scuttlebutt is, now you can tell them. Nautical technology made the scuttlebutt obsolete, but the term endured, becoming a catch-all word for unfounded rumors. What SCUTTLE Hey, have you not heard the scuttlebutt SEBASTIAN Your butt SCUTTLE No, the gossip The buzz The who-said-what-who-does-that, yeah, the Scuttlebutt Well, I was flying. The scuttlebutt was really the only place to do it. Since sailors could congregate around the fountain, it became a place to finally catch up and exchange gossip, making scuttlebutt synonymous with casual conversation. A scuttlebutt was therefore a hatch in the cask.īecause sailors usually received orders from shouting supervisors, talking amongst themselves was discouraged. The cask was known as a butt, while scuttle was taken from the French word escoutilles and means hatch or hole. It was later used as the name of the drinking fountain found on a ship or in a Naval installation. Back in the early 1800s, the cask containing a ships daily supply of fresh water was called a scuttlebutt (from the verb scuttle meaning 'to cut a hole through' and the noun butt, 'cask') that name was later applied to a drinking fountain on a ship or at a naval installation. But what exactly is scuttlebutt, and why did it become associated with idle water cooler talk?Īccording to Merriam-Webster, a scuttlebutt referred to a cask on sailing ships in the 1800s that contained drinking water for those on board. We can easily infer that scuttlebutt is a slang term for information or maybe even gossip. “What’s the scuttlebutt?” you’d say, for example, and then they’d reply with the solicited scuttlebutt. Sometimes, you can ask them what the scuttlebutt is. You might ask someone how they’re doing, what’s new, or if they’ve done anything interesting recently. Casual conversation is home to a variety of prompts.
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