2024 Blessing of the Fleet

Please join the Navy Memorial in person or online for our 33rd Annual Blessing of the Fleet Ceremony. Passed down through generations of sailors, fishermen, merchant mariners, and navies around the world, the centuries-old “Blessing of the Fleet” Ceremony is intended to safeguard crews and their ships. The ceremony’s main highlight is when sailors from the U.S. Navy’s Ceremonial Guard proceed across the “Granite Sea” on Navy Memorial Plaza to pour water from the Seven Seas and Great Lakes into the surrounding fountains. In doing so, the seas are “charged with life” as they usher in the spring season.