In repeat goof-ups, several prominent US lawmakers and a state governor have inadvertently used images of warships of India and American arch-rival Russia in a rush to greet the US Navy on its 251st anniversary.Georgia Governor Republican Brian P Kemp marked the US Navy’s founding day with a post on X: “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.” But along with his greeting, Kemp used an old image of Indian Navy warships sailing in a line to post his message. The error was flagged by Wall Street Journal Deputy Washington Bureau Chief Dave Brown, who reposted Kemp’s message with a one-liner: “Those are Indian warships.” The image used is believed to be of three Indian Navy frigates — INS Godavari, INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas — sailing in formation during a joint US-India ‘Malabar’ naval exercise in 2008.
In a thread on X, Brown also flagged several other posts that committed similar mistakes. He pointed out that Congressman Tim Moore also posted the same image of the Indian warships that Kemp used. The journalist then flagged that even the Freedom Caucus Foundation of Republicans posted an Indian Navy Talwar-class frigate INS Trikand while wishing the US Navy. A credit card and financial company built by Conservatives for Conservatives, Coign, also posted the same image of the three Indian warships to wish the US Navy.
State Representative Mike Dovilla went a step further when he posted US arch-rival Russia’s warships in order to greet the US Navy. Jeffrey J Dinise, who is the Chief Patrol Agent of the US Border Patrol (USBP) Miami sector, used an image of a Kirov-class Russian battlecruiser in his birthday message. San Diego mayor Todd Gloria chose an old Soviet cruiser Mikhail Kutuzov, which is now a museum ship in Novorossiysk, to greet the US Navy.
Irrespective of the mistakes by American politicians, the US Navy has a long and rich history. It traces its origins to Oct 13, 1775, when the Continental Congress authorised the first armed vessels to hunt British supply ships.With a strong fleet of 300 ships and thousands of aircraft, the US Navy is the world’s second-largest navy behind China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy in terms of numbers but by far the largest in terms of displacement. It has also the world’s largest aircraft carrier fleet, with 11 in active service.
