As Reported by the House Veterans and Military Development Committee

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. C. R. No. 20

2025-2026

Representatives Dovilla, Santucci

Cosponsors: Representatives Barhorst, Brennan, Claggett, Click, Deeter, Demetriou, Fischer, Fowler Arthur, Gross, Hall, T., Johnson, Kishman, King, Klopfenstein, Miller, M., Newman, Rader, Ray, Robb Blasdel, Schmidt, Stephens, Synenberg, Richardson, Mathews, T., Lawson-Rowe, Craig, Ghanbari, Hall, D., Lampton, McNally

A c o n c u r r e n t R E S O L U T I O N

To honor the distinguished service and exceptional valor of the men and women of the United States Navy and to commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding.

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF OHIO (THE SENATE CONCURRING):

WHEREAS, On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress adopted a resolution establishing what is now the United States Navy with "a swift sailing vessel, to carry ten carriage guns, and a proportionable number of swivels, with eighty men, be fitted, with all possible despatch, for a cruise of three months…"; and

WHEREAS, After the American War of Independence, the U.S. Constitution empowered the new Congress "to provide and maintain a navy"; and

WHEREAS, Acting on this authority, Congress established the Department of the Navy on April 30, 1798; and

WHEREAS, In 1972, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt authorized official recognition of October 13 as the birthday of the U.S. Navy "to enhance a greater appreciation of our Navy heritage, and to provide a positive influence toward pride and professionalism in the naval service"; and

WHEREAS, The State of Ohio has deep and abiding connections to the history and heritage of the U.S. Navy, including the signal victory of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812 and the vital contributions of Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) to a top-secret mission in Dayton during the Second World War; and

WHEREAS, The State of Ohio has produced numerous decorated Naval officers throughout U.S. history, including Commander Abraham Whipple, who commanded several ships in the Continental Navy during the Revolutionary War and later, as a member of the Ohio Company, helped found Marietta, Ohio; Lieutenant Commander William R. Hoel of Butler County, who served with distinction in command of USS Pittsburg, helping to secure the capture of Vicksburg during the Civil War; Rear Admiral Isaac Campbell Kidd of Cleveland, the highest ranking officer to lose his life in the attack on Pearl Harbor, who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for devotion to duty and extraordinary courage; and Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King of Lorain, who held supreme naval command in unprecedented simultaneous capacity as Chief of Naval Operations and Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, during the Second World War; and

WHEREAS, Several astronauts with Naval backgrounds have hailed from Ohio, including Lieutenant Neil A. Armstrong of Wapakoneta, a Naval aviator during the Korean War and the first man to walk on the moon; Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr. of Cambridge, a Marine Corps aviator during the Second World War and Korean War and the first American to orbit the earth; Captain James A. Lovell, Jr., a Naval aviator, pilot of the Apollo 8 mission and the commander of the Apollo 13 mission; Colonel Robert F. Overmyer of Lorain, a Marine aviator, Apollo support crew member, and Space Shuttle commander; Captain Sunita L. Williams of Euclid, who served on the International Space Station and is one of the most experienced spacewalkers in history; and

WHEREAS, The United States has honored the people of Ohio on numerous occasions in U.S. history by naming four ships USS Ohio, a schooner during the War of 1812, a ship of the line launched in 1820, a Maine-class dreadnought battleship (BB-12) commissioned in 1904, and the leading ship of a class of nuclear powered submarines (SSGN-726) commissioned in 1981 and still in service; and

WHEREAS, The United States has named a myriad of other ships after Ohio locations, including USS Akron, USS Bucyrus Victory, USS Cincinnati (five times), USS Cleveland (four times), and USS Columbus; and

WHEREAS, Ohio has three active Navy Reserve Centers located in Akron, Cincinnati, and Columbus, which provide support for Navy Reserve units and hundreds of Sailors; and

WHEREAS, for two-and-a-half centuries, millions of Americans have served – and many have given the last full measure of devotion – as Sailors who lived by the Navy's core values of Honor, Courage, and Commitment; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, That we, the members of the 136th General Assembly of the State of Ohio, honor the distinguished service and exceptional valor of the men and women of the United States Navy and commemorate the 250th anniversary of its founding; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Clerk of the House of Representatives transmit duly authenticated copies of this resolution to the Ohio Commission for the U.S. Semiquincentennial, the commanding officers of the three Navy Reserve Centers in Ohio, and the news media of Ohio.