Happy Birthday, Navy! Here are 36 powerful pictures of the US Navy throughout history

For 243 years, the US Navy has been the most visible part of America's military might, visiting far-flung ports of call and operating all over the world.  

To celebrate the US Navy, we've pulled out some of the coolest photos from the archives.

SEE ALSO: 32 powerful pictures of the US Marines through history

In the decades after the Civil War, America began a new era of foreign intervention with the Navy leading the way. This 1899 photo shows sailors eating on the USS Olympia, which was the US's flagship during the Spanish-American War of the previous year.

The USS Holland, seen in this photo from 1900, was the Navy's first commissioned submarine.

President Theodore Roosevelt ordered a fleet of US ships to circumnavigate the globe from 1907-1909.

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