Why is the Marine Corps flag before the Navy flag in order of precedence?

Answer 1

By Naval Tradition is not the correct answer. The precedence is set my DOD and is based on the age of the services.

The Marine Corps has had precedence over the Navy since 1921 because the Marine Corps has been very consistent in citing its origins as the legislation of the Continental Congress that established the Continental Marines on 10 November 1775. In contrast, the United States Navy until 1972 gave various responses to the question of when it was founded, often citing legislation dating from its reestablishment in the 1790s. At the time the order of precedenceof the U.S. services was established, the Navy was using the dates from the 1790s, as its founding, and hence was viewed as a younger service than the Marine Corps. Despite several efforts to reverse the Marine Corps/Navy order of precedence in recent years, it has not occurred.

In fact, the Continental Navy was created before the Continental Marines. On 13 October 1775 Congress enacted the first naval legislation providing for the outfitting of two warships. This marked the beginning of the Continental Navy, the forerunner of the United States Navy. Almost one month later, 10 November 1775, as an extension of that naval legislation, Congress resolved that "two Battalions of marines be raised." Following the Revolutionary War, both services went into abeyance. When they were reestablished in the 1790s, the reestablishment of the United States Navy preceded the reestablishment of the Marine Corps.

An order by the Marine Corps Commandant in 1921 designated 10 November 1775 as the birthday of the Marine Corps. Over the years, the U.S. Navy cited two other possible dates as founding events, the legislation of 27 March 1794, "to provide a naval armament," authorizing the construction of six frigates under the War Department, and the act of 30 April 1798, which established the Department of the Navy.

Despite the existence of these alternatives, the U.S. Navy for fifty years celebrated "Navy Day" on 27 October, as proposed in 1922 by the New York Navy League, in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt's birthday. The Navy had no officially recognized birthday until 1972, when Admiral Zumwalt, Chief of Naval Operations, with the advice of Vice Admiral Edwin B. Hooper, Director of Naval History, authorized observance of 13 October as the Navy Birthday.

Answer 2

According to the Department of Defense Directive 1005.8, the prescribed precedence of military flags is determined by service birthdays. The appropriate order is given below:

Army Birthday 14 June 1775

Marine Corps Birthday 10 November 1775

Navy Birthday 13 Oct 1775-Abolished Feb 1781-Reinstated 7 Sep 1781

Air Force Birthday 18 September 1947

Coast Guard Birthday 4 August 1790

According to the Institute of Heraldry, and in keeping with the order in which troops are listed in Department of Defense Directive 1005.8, during peacetime the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Homeland Security. During wartime, if the Coast Guard comes under the control of the Department of Defense, then the Coast Guard flag would come before the Air Force flag in order of precedence.