This year’s Huntsville Navy Week holds special significance as it coincides with the U.S. Navy’s 250th birthday — a historic milestone celebrating a quarter-millennium of maritime excellence, national security, and global leadership.

Huntsville Navy Week is the fourth of 15 Navy Weeks in 2025, which brings a variety of assets, equipment, and personnel to a single city for a week-long series of engagements designed to bring America's Navy closer to the people it protects. Each year, the program reaches more than 140 million people -- about half the U.S. population.

“As we celebrate 250 years of naval tradition and excellence as a maritime nation, we recognize that it’s not only the world’s most advanced weapons systems, but more importantly, our highly skilled Sailors—at sea and ashore—who provide an unmatched advantage in promoting global security, deterring aggression, and safeguarding the American way of life,” said Cmdr. Julie Holland, director of the Navy Office of Community Outreach. “Bringing Navy Week to Huntsville—an epicenter of innovation, space exploration, and defense—creates a meaningful opportunity to connect with a community whose values of service, science, and national security deeply align with those of the Navy.”

During Huntsville Navy Week, more than 50 Sailors, to include those with direct ties to Huntsville, will engage in education and community outreach events throughout the city.

“This Navy Week is important to me because it gives me a chance to tell others about my experiences in the Navy, and it gives a real look into the opportunities the Navy has provided me," said Cyber Warfare Technician 2nd Class Carolyn Shelby McGilvray, a native of Montevallo assigned to Navy Information Operations Command (NOIC) Pensacola, Florida.

Huntsville Navy Week events include a Navy Week proclamation and kickoff ceremony at the Space and Rocket Museum; Military Night at the Trash Panda’s baseball game; Hazel Green High School NJROTC Showcase; Floyd E. “Tut” Fann State Veterans Home; Cocktails at the View at Burritt on the Mountain; Panoply Arts Festival; Huntsville Comic and Pop Culture Expo; Arbor Day 5K Race; College Beach Volleyball Championship; Lowe Mill ARTS and Entertainment; Huntsville City Football Club and free live music at venues throughout the city performed by Navy Band Southeast. Sailors will also volunteer with organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs; Downtown Rescue Mission; Manna House Food Distribution; Huntsville Community Drumline; Next Step Farms; Food Bank of North Alabama; 305 Eighth Street Community; Habitat for Humanity; Operation Making a Difference; Sleep in Heavenly Peace and Huntsville Botanical Garden, among others.

Huntsville Navy Week Senior Executive, Rear Adm. Todd Weeks, program executive officer, strategic submarines, will participate in community engagements and meet with local businesses, civic, education, and government leaders.

Other Navy Week Sailors include those from the Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Jackson (LCS 6), USS Montgomery (LCS 8), and Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Mobile, USS Constitution, Naval Talent Acquisition Group Nashville, U.S. Navy Ceremonial Guard, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Eleven, Navy Bureau of Medicine, Naval History and Heritage Command, Navy Band Southeast, Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Navy eSports, and The Strike Group virtual reality activation.

Media organizations wishing to cover Huntsville Navy Week events, to include interviewing hometown heroes and the senior Navy executive, should contact Ensign Lamar Badger at (901) 229-5709 or erick.l.badger.mil@us.navy.mil.

Stories featuring Sailors and civil servants from the Huntsville area:

Petty Officer 2nd Class Carolyn Shelby McGilvray

https://navyoutreach.blogspot.com/2025/04/sailor-from-montevallo-returns-home-for.html

Petty Officer 2nd Class Adam Prevatt

https://navyoutreach.blogspot.com/2025/04/sailor-from-dothan-returns-home-for.html

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Stancil

https://navyoutreach.blogspot.com/2025/04/sailor-from-albertville-returns-home.html

Devyn Guillebeaux

https://navyoutreach.blogspot.com/2025/04/madison-native-returns-home-for.html

For a list of public events, visit www.outreach.navy.mil

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• Instagram: @navy.outreach

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About Navy Week:

Navy Weeks are a series of outreach events coordinated by the Navy Office of Community Outreach designed to give Americans an opportunity to learn about the Navy, its people, and its importance to national security and prosperity. Since 2005, the Navy Week program has brought the Navy’s mission, people, and capabilities to hundreds of communities’ nationwide, inspiring new generations and strengthening the bonds between the Navy and the American people.