In the fall of 2025, the U.S. Navy’s and Marine Corps’ 250th birthdays will be celebrated with great fanfare, as Homecoming 250—the group dedicated to organizing the festivities—presents unique signature events on both banks of the Delaware River.
The 250th anniversary of the Navy’s founding on 13 October 1775 will be marked with an unprecedented floating display of Navy history brought together on the Delaware. Ships representing every major conflict in which the Navy has fought, from the American Revolution to today, will be on view.
The 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps’ founding on 10 November 1775 will unfold in Philadelphia; ships important to the Corps’ history will assemble on the waterfront, and the 100th Marine Corps Ball will be held (fittingly, Philadelphia is where Major General John A. Lejeune held the first Marine Corps “Birthday Ball” a century earlier). Additional celebrations will unfold near the original site of Tun Tavern, famed birthplace of the Marine Corps; plans also are in the works for a re-created Tun Tavern nearby.
Commemorations near Independence Hall and Congress Hall, parades, aerial demonstrations, exhibits, reenactments, veterans’ gatherings, and other events all will be part of the mix as well. Homecoming 250 invites anyone interested in volunteering to help with the semiquincentennial to join the cause. For more information, visit www.homecoming250.org/get-involved/.
