[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 32, Volume 5]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 32CFR700.201]

[Page 12-13]
 
                       TITLE 32--NATIONAL DEFENSE
 
                   CHAPTER VI--DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
 
PART 700_UNITED STATES NAVY REGULATIONS AND OFFICIAL RECORDS--Table of 
Contents
 
                  Subpart B_The Department of the Navy
 
Sec. 700.201  Origin and authority of the Department of the Navy.


    (a) The naval affairs of the country began with the war for 
independence, the American Revolution. On 13 October 1775, Congress 
passed legislation for ships. This, in effect, created the continental 
Navy. Two battalions of Marines were authorized on 10 November 1775. 
Under the Constitution, the First Congress on 7 August 1789 assigned 
responsibility for the conduct of naval affairs to the War Department. 
On 30 April 1798, the Congress established a separate Department of the 
Navy with the Secretary of the Navy as its chief officer. On 11 July 
1798, the United States Marine Corps was established as a separate 
service, and in 1834 was made a part of the Department of the Navy.
    (b) The National Security Act of 1947, as amended, is the 
fundamental law governing the position of the Department of the Navy in 
the organization for national defense. In 1949, the Act was amended to 
establish the Department of Defense as an Executive Department, and to 
establish the Departments of the Army, Navy and Air

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Force (formerly established as Executive Departments by the 1947 Act) as 
military departments within the Department of Defense.
    (c) The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act 
of 1986 further defined the roles of the military departments within the 
Department of Defense. In addition to establishing the office of Vice 
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and further emphasizing the 
operational chain of command, the Act provided detailed statements of 
the roles of the Secretary of the Navy, the Chief of Naval Operations, 
the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and their respective principal 
assistants.
    (d) The responsibilities and authority of the Department of the Navy 
are vested in the Secretary of the Navy, and are subject to reassignment 
and delegation by the Secretary. The Secretary is bound by the 
provisions of law, the direction of the President and the Secretary of 
Defense and, along with all persons in charge of Government agencies, 
the regulations of certain non-defense agencies addressing their 
respective areas of functional responsibility.