70 Naval Quotes

Following is our list of naval quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about top naval.

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Famous Naval Quotes

Without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive. — George Washington

Admiral. That part of a warship which does the talking while the figurehead does the thinking. — Ambrose Bierce

It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, and with it, everything honorable and glorious. — George Washington

The fleet sailed to its war base in the North Sea, headed not so much for some rendezvous with glory as for rendezvous with discretion. — Barbara Tuchman

Sailors, with their built in sense of order, service and discipline, should really be running the world. — Nicholas Monsarrat

A good Navy is not a provocation to war. It is the surest guaranty of peace. — Theodore Roosevelt

Of all the branches of men in the forces there is none which shows more devotion and faces grimmer perils than the submariners. — Winston Churchill

Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash. — Winston Churchill

The best that science can devise and that naval organization can provide must be regarded only as an aid, and never as a substitute for good seamanship. — Chester W. Nimitz

In Sea affairs, nothing is impossible, and nothing is improbable. — Horatio Nelson

Our present control of the sea is so absolute that it is sometimes taken for granted. — Chester W. Nimitz

Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep. — William Shakespeare

The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash. - Winston Churchill

The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy and the lash. — Winston Churchill

It is the function of the Navy to carry the war to the enemy so that it will not be fought on U.S. soil. — Chester W. Nimitz

Only one military organization can hold and gain ground in war-a ground army supported by tactical aviation with supply lines guarded by the navy. — Omar N. Bradley

Short Naval Quotes

  • **** the torpedoes! Full speed ahead! — David Farragut
  • You may fire when you are ready Gridley. — George Dewey
  • We have met the enemy and they are ours. — Oliver Hazard Perry
  • Close with a Frenchman, but out-maneuver a Russian. — Horatio Nelson
  • December 7, 1941. A date which will live in infamy. — Franklin D. Roosevelt
  • There are but few naval powers, but there are many land powers. — Frank B. Kellogg
  • ...without a Respectable Navy, Alas America! — John Paul Jones
  • There is no such thing as a naval dictatorship. — George Orwell
  • I was suppose to be a Jesuit priest or a naval academy graduate. — Jimmy Buffett
  • There are in most states one or two ministers of war, one of whom is the minister of naval affairs. — Fredrik Bajer

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More Naval Quotes

The main American naval forces were shifted to the Pacific region and an American admiral made a strong declaration to the effect that if war were to break out between Japan and the United States, the Japanese navy could be sunk in a matter of weeks. — Hideki Tojo

The CIA teamed up with Army, Air Force and Naval Intelligence to run one of the most nefarious, classified, enhanced interrogation programs of the Cold War. — Annie Jacobsen

My solution to the problem would be to tell [the North Vietnamese Communists] frankly that they've got to draw in their horns and stop their aggression or we're going to bomb them into the Stone Age. And we would shove them back into the Stone Age with Air power or Naval power - not with ground forces. — Curtis LeMay

We are setting the stage for war, Netanyahu is setting the path for Armageddon. America thinks that the presence of our offshore naval power will act as a deterrent to the Turks, Iranians, and others in the region that might otherwise become involved in a confrontation with Israel. — Douglas Macgregor

Egypt was, arguably, a nation-state when most Europeans were living in mud huts, but it was never more than a regional power. It is protected by deserts on three sides and might have become a great power in the Mediterranean region but for one problem. There are hardly any trees in Egypt, and for most of history, if you didn't have trees, you couldn't build a great navy with which to project your power. — Tim Marshall

As both a former governor and a Naval officer I can tell you energy security remains among biofuels' most important benefits. — Matt Blunt

A century earlier, the British had learned they needed forward bases and coaling stations from which to project and protect their naval power. Now, with Britain in decline, the Americans looked lasciviously at the British assets and said, ‘Nice bases — we’ll have them.’ In the autumn of 1940, Britain desperately needed more warships. The Americans had fifty to spare and so, with what was called the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, the British swapped their ability to be a global power for help in remaining in the war. Almost every British naval base was handed over. This was, and is still, for all countries, about concrete. Concrete for the building of ports, runways, hangars, fuel depots, dry docks. In the East, after the defeat of Japan, America seized the opportunity to build these all over the Pacific; now they had bases right up to the Japanese island of Okinawa. — Tim Marshall

In 1949, Washington led the formation of NATO and with it effectively assumed command of the Western world’s surviving military might. The civilian head may well be a Belgian one year, a Brit the next, but the military commander is always an American, and by far the greatest firepower within NATO is American. No matter what the treaty says, NATO’s Supreme Commander ultimately answers to Washington. The UK and France would learn this at their expense during the Suez Crisis of 1956 — when they were compelled by American pressure to cease their occupation of the canal zone, losing most of their influence in the Middle East as a result — that a NATO country does not hold a strategic naval policy without first asking Washington. — Tim Marshall

Obviously I was challenged by becoming a Naval aviator, by landing aboard aircraft carriers and so on. — Alan Shepard

Israel uses sophisticated attack jets and naval vessels to bomb densely-crowded refugee camps, schools, apartment blocks, mosques, and slums to attack a population that has no air force, no air defense, no navy, no heavy weapons, no artillery units, no mechanized armor, no command in control, no army and calls it a war. — Noam Chomsky

Oh, I’m nerdy about science fiction and fantasy and graphic novels and reading, and I’m nerdy about board games. My favorite board game is a board game I’m working on right now. It’s a game of Napoleonic era naval warfare, and it’s going to be fun. — Billy Campbell

There was wildlife, untouched, a jungle at the border of the sea, never seen by those who floated on the opaque roof. Describing his early experience, in 1936, when a fellow naval officer, Philippe Tailliez, gave him goggles to see below the Mediterranean Sea surface. — Jacques Yves Cousteau

A century earlier, the British had learned they needed forward bases and coaling stations from which to project and protect their naval power. — Tim Marshall

And what would happen if the resources required to make goods dried up, or if there was a naval blockade of your goods? Well, for that, you’d need a navy. — Tim Marshall

I read sometime around 1938 of Jewish fines and some street actions against them. But I was too concerned with U-Boats and the naval problems to be concerned about Jews. — Karl Donitz

According to Colonel Ely Garrison, in his autobiography and according to the United States Naval Secret Service Report on Paul Warburg, the Russian Revolution had been financed by the Rothschilds and Warburgs, with a member of the Warburg family carrying the actual funds used by Lenin and Trotsky in Stockholm in 1918. — Eustace Mullins

But Canada remains a crucial partner in this global war on terrorism, and we are grateful for that. Canadian naval vessels, aircraft and military personnel continue anti-terrorist operations in the Persian Gulf. — Paul Cellucci

Ironically, the Canadian naval vessels, aircraft and personnel in the Persian Gulf I mentioned earlier who are fighting terrorism will provide more support indirectly to this war in Iraq than most of the 46 countries that are fully supporting our efforts there. — Paul Cellucci

I will love you as the iceberg loves the ship, and the passengers love the lifeboat and the lifeboat loves the teeth of the sperm whale, and the sperm whale loves the flavor of naval uniforms. — Daniel Handler

France and Italy have not yet signed this treaty or agreed to naval limitation as between those nations, but I have confidence that in time they will do so. — Frank B. Kellogg

Events of October 1962 indicated, as they had all through history, that control of the sea means security. Control of the seas can mean peace. Control of the seas can mean victory. The United States must control the seas if it is to protect your security. — John F. Kennedy

A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns. — Franklin D. Roosevelt

Tariffs, government contracts, naval and military spending, nationalized industries, tax policy, social welfare, the legal privileging of labor unions were among the means at the disposal of the governing class to exploit the public at large for the benefits of its various clienteles. — Ralph Raico

I work very closely with Steve Bannon. Frankly, people should look at the full resume. He`s got a Harvard Business degree, a naval officer. He has success in entertainment. I don`t know if you`re aware of that. And he certainly was a Goldman Sachs manager and partner. Brilliant tactician. — Kellyanne Conway

A friend of mine who works for naval intelligence said an aerial satellite revealed that 1.9 million attended the event in 1995. But if they would have had a rumble at the march the newspapers would have said that 75 million Afro-Americans were there. — Dick Gregory

Competition in armament, both land and naval, is not only a terrible burden upon the people, but I believe it to be one of the greatest menaces to the peace of the world. — Frank B. Kellogg

The launch of Nautilus, the world's first atomic submarine marked a transition in naval warfare-a transition as sudden as that associated with the Monitor. — Waldemar Kaempffert

Japanese naval officers in dress whites are frequent guests at Pearl Harbor's officers' mess and are very polite. They always were. Except, of course, for that little interval there between 1941 and 1945. — William Manchester

What if there's another terrorist attack? I cringe at the ideas of our enemies watching this, knowing much like the president we have now. You can do anything you want, you can jerk us around, you can harass our naval ships the way Iran is doing right now, and we're not going to do anything. We're not going to react. — John McCain

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