Annapolis

A few weeks ago I took a day away from school work and visited my friend Fr. Mark at his new parish assignment. Together we drove to Maryland's state capital in Annapolis and toured the United States Naval Academy, which is appropriately located on the waters of the Chesapeake.

I can recall years ago that Fr. Robert Gannon, my childhood pastor, celebrated a wedding at the Academy Chapel and came back to Staten Island raving about its beauty. This was my first visit to "the yard" and I found that the Chapel is indeed a lovely building.

Along with the Tiffany stained glass windows, I was most impressed by the model ship that hangs above the choir loft as a kind of votive offering on behalf of all those sailors who are currently at sea. In the crypt of the chapel, we paid our respects to John Paul Johns the naval hero of the American Revolution.

Our tour overlapped the lunch hour and so when we made our way to Tecumseh Court, which is directly in front of Bancroft Hall where all of the midshipmen live and eat, we were able to see the daily review formation ...

Inside Bancroft, the Memorial Hall contains some fabulous murals of important naval battles in American history and a replica of the flag flown by Oliver Hazard Perry aboard the USS Niagara during the War of 1812. The phrase "Don't Give Up the Ship" was famously uttered by James Lawrence as he died aboard the USS Chesapeake during the same conflict.

After our tour Fr. Mark and I had a quick bite to eat in one of the campus eateries. We noted that all of the decor centered around the Naval Academy's sports teams, and so I suspected that somewhere I would find a few pictures celebrating the Navy's long-overdue success when playing the Fighting Irish in football. And sure enough ...

Although this trip was several weeks ago, I thought that posting this was an appropriate way of celebrating the 236th birthday of the United States Navy which we commemorate today. Anchors Away, and God bless the men and women of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.