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Cats in the Navy
Naval Institute Press ^ | June 2022 | Scot Christenson

Posted on 06/13/2022 6:50:39 AM PDT by Saint X

Cats were seen as omens in ancient times but eventually became trusted animal companions to those who sailed the seas. From catching rats at docks and on ships at sea, cats often became mascots to the navies around the globe. Filled with informative text and more than eighty photos, Cats in the Navy provides a fun history of our feline friends who rode the waves with us.

(Excerpt) Read more at usni.org ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History; Military/Veterans; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: cats; mascots; navy
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To: faithhopecharity

Dogs have masters, cats have staffs.


21 posted on 06/13/2022 8:58:13 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
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To: Saint X

Thought cats in the Navy were outlawed by Congress in 1850.


22 posted on 06/13/2022 8:59:37 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
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To: Bull Snipe

Remember this one from a while back:

A dog owner feeds and loves his dog. Dog thinks he must be God.

A cat owner feeds and loves his cat. Cat thinks I must be God.


23 posted on 06/13/2022 9:18:18 AM PDT by CodeJockey (Politicians are to America as oligarchs are to Russia. )
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To: CodeJockey

Put 20 lbs. on your dog. He’s your buddy.
Put 20 lbs on your cat. You’re his lunch.


24 posted on 06/13/2022 9:41:40 AM PDT by enraged
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To: CodeJockey

good one, never heard that one before.


25 posted on 06/13/2022 9:44:37 AM PDT by Bull Snipe
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To: Saint X

Hellcats of the Navy, starring Ronald Reagan and Nancy Davis.


26 posted on 06/13/2022 9:49:09 AM PDT by scrabblehack
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To: Saint X

Has any Navy cat matched the record of Sgt. Stubby?


27 posted on 06/13/2022 9:50:14 AM PDT by scrabblehack
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To: CodeJockey

Kitty passed his fleetwide exam, his practical factors and military requirements. He earned that Crow!


28 posted on 06/13/2022 9:55:10 AM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Militia to the border! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: Bull Snipe

exactly

cats have staffs, or servants, or even more accurately: Slaves!


29 posted on 06/13/2022 9:58:22 AM PDT by faithhopecharity (“Politicians are not born. They’re excreted.” Marcus Tillius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: Saint X

Reminds me of my loyal companion “Fenwick the Cat” that kept the rats off of me while in a Vietnam base camp. At night I could feel his paws scratching back and forth on my poncho liner waiting for the right moment to make the kill. He was an excellent rat catcher until I made a huge mistake and fed him some rehydrated shrimp.


30 posted on 06/13/2022 10:00:32 AM PDT by mosaicwolf
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To: Vigilanteman
I believe it was because dogs were useful both as a beast of burden and as a food source

Tribal warfare is the special environmental pressure that drives human evolution. Man's best friend provides an early warning of an ambush attack, to this day. Tribes without dogs get killed off.

31 posted on 06/13/2022 10:10:39 AM PDT by Reeses
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To: Taxman

Ping


32 posted on 06/13/2022 10:30:58 AM PDT by Taxman (SAVE AMERICA!)
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To: NorthMountain

That’s the one, now we have all the cats and the tiger is ready to get on the cat!!


33 posted on 06/13/2022 11:49:39 AM PDT by pfflier
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To: pfflier
Cats aboard a Kitty:


34 posted on 06/13/2022 12:18:15 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Saint X

I’m curious as to what they used for cat litter....


35 posted on 06/13/2022 12:19:20 PM PDT by Gaffer
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To: NorthMountain
We lived in San Diego when Kittyhawk was home ported there. Went on a few general public tours.

My dad came to visit us and he was USAF retired. We both showed our IDs at the boarding ramp at North Island and asked if was OK to look at the ship meaning from the dock.

The OOD detailed a sailor and we got the $10 tour, almost all spaces in the ship including living and engineering spaces. What a day.

We got a bumper sticker that I still have that says "The Hawk is My Ship".

36 posted on 06/13/2022 2:47:59 PM PDT by pfflier
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To: pfflier
That's awesome. Under vaguely similar circumstances, I got a topside tour of CG72 USS Vella Gulf. The Navy can be surprisingly accommodating at times, and very proud of their ships.

I hope this isn't too much of a stretch, but being as this is FR ... I have to title this one "Viking Kitty".


37 posted on 06/13/2022 7:17:12 PM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the peopIe to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: Saint X

38 posted on 06/13/2022 7:26:42 PM PDT by Bratch
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To: Bull Snipe

Cats and most other animals on ships were banned by the Navy in the 1950s. Improvements in fumigation meant that cats were no longer needed as mousecatchers, and they had become liabilities because of much stricter quarantine laws. A cat wandering off a ship in a foreign port would result in a large fine.


39 posted on 06/13/2022 9:33:35 PM PDT by Saint X
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To: faithhopecharity
I cannot disagree.

As the old saying goes, dogs have owners and cats have staff.

40 posted on 06/15/2022 5:46:40 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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