(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 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.