The US Navy is celebrating its 251st birthday. But in the rush to mark the occasion, several prominent Republican lawmakers and state governors inadvertently used images of warships operated by the Indian and Russian navies to wish America’s seaborne force a happy birthday.
The US Navy was founded in 1775, a year before the country declared its independence and was still fighting off the shackles of British colonialism. The force, which remains the most powerful Navy in the world on several metrics, celebrated its 251st birthday on Tuesday (October 13).
Given the momentous occasion, it would be fair to assume that American politicians, particularly those from the Republican Party, would be quick to wish the US Navy a happy birthday. And they were.
Posting on X, Georgia Governor Brian P Kemp, a Republican, wrote, “From the early days of our nation’s founding, the Navy has stood watch over our country and defended freedom across the seas. On its birthday, we salute the sailors whose service, sacrifice, and courage carry that legacy forward.”
Kemp also shared an image of three warships sailing in line astern, emblazoned with the words “Happy Birthday US Navy” and the seal of the state of Georgia. Very patriotic we must say.
There was just one small issue, which Dave Brown, a journalist with the US-based newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, was the first to point out via a post on X. The warships in the image shared by Kemp were not American. As Brown put it, “Those are Indian warships”.
And Brown is right. A reverse image search reveals that the warships in Kemp’s post are three Indian Navy frigates, INS Godavari, INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas. The photograph appears to have been taken by a US Navy photographer in 2008, when the two navies were participating in a joint naval exercise. A Community Note on Kemp’s X post, meanwhile, identified the vessels as Kolkata-class guided-missile destroyers, an identification that appears to be incorrect.
But Kemp was far from the only American politician to use images of foreign warships to wish the US Navy a happy birthday.
In a series of posts on X, Brown highlighted similar mistakes by other American politicians and public figures.
Ohio State Representative Mike Dovilla, a Republican and, rather ironically, a former US Navy lieutenant commander, was seen wishing the US Navy a happy birthday with an image of warships that Brown identified as belonging to the Russian Navy.
Jeffrey J Dinise, an official with the US Border Patrol, used an image of a Russian Kirov-class battlecruiser. US Congressman Tim Moore of North Carolina, meanwhile, used the same image of the three Indian Navy frigates shared by Kemp.
Democratic politician and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, whose city is home to one of the US Navy’s largest naval bases, used an image of the Soviet-era cruiser Mikhail Kutuzov, which is now a museum ship in Novorossiysk, Russia.
The social media account of the Freedom Caucus Foundation, a Republican-aligned think tank, also joined in, using an image of the Indian Navy frigate INS Trikand.
The posts were met by a healthy share of ridicule on X. One person joked, “Oh god our warships are here on H1B too?!!! QUICKLY, someone tell JD Vance.
“I’m heartened to learn that politicians are no better at identifying USN ships than they are at identifying USAF aircraft,” wrote one person.
“What in a world is going on in US ? So after claiming Greenland and some patch of ocean, they are now claiming our ships as theirs too?”, wrote another. One person lameneted that there were better images of the Indian Navy Kemp could have used.
In the end, a birthday meant to celebrate American naval power became an unintended showcase of warships from countries whose navies operate alongside, and at times in competition with, the US Navy. For the politicians, or their social media teams involved, the lesson was simple. Before saluting the fleet, it might help to check whose ships are sailing in the photograph.
– Ends
(Written by Shounak Sanyal)
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