The White House celebrated the United States Navy's 251st birthday on Tuesday with a message from President Trump crediting the fleet with a new historic achievement in the Strait of Hormuz.
"Happy Birthday to the United States Navy!" the president wrote. "It is now 251 years of Victories, Old and New."
Trump tied the anniversary to current operations, pointing to the Navy's role in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
'The Impenetrable Steel Wall'
"What they've done with the impenetrable Steel Wall (Sometimes referred to as the Blockade) in the Hormuz Strait is another Historic Achievement, one of many," Trump said.
The president closed his message with a direct salute to the service: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S. NAVY!"
The Navy's 251st year places its founding in 1775, when the Continental Congress established the Continental Navy ahead of the break with Britain. The service has since grown into the world's largest and most capable naval force.
Trump's statement frames the Horn of the Strait of Hormuz operation as the latest entry in a long record of naval victories, describing the steps taken there as one of many historic achievements across more than two and a half centuries.
