US Politicians Mocked After Celebrating Navy's 251st Birthday With Russian Cruisers and Indian Warships

Prominent American political figures, including Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, have sparked widespread ridicule after mistakenly commemorating the US Navy's 251st birthday this week using photographs of Indian and Russian warships.

The embarrassing social media mix-ups occurred on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, when elected officials from both major parties posted official commemorative graphics celebrating the maritime branch's founding during the Revolutionary War in 1775.

Sharp-eyed observers, led by Wall Street Journal deputy Washington bureau chief Dave Brown, quickly pointed out that the promotional materials featured foreign naval vessels, including Indian Brahmaputra-class guided-missile frigates and a preserved Soviet-era Russian cruiser.

Governor Kemp's post, which showcased Indian frigates photographed during a 2008 joint exercise alongside the Georgia state seal, garnered more than half a million views within hours as digital commentators mocked the administrative oversight.

The gaffe extended across statehouses and federal agencies, ensnaring North Carolina Representative Tim Moore, an Ohio state legislator with two decades of naval intelligence service, and a senior US Border Patrol official. The widespread errors have sparked fierce debate over political public-relations vetting and digital competence.

'Those Are Indian Warships'

Kemp, a Republican, posted an image of three warships sailing in line under the words 'Happy Birthday US Navy', alongside the Georgia state seal, WION reported. The ships were Indian Navy frigates INS Godavari, INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas.

INS Brahmaputra and INS Beas belong to the Brahmaputra class of guided-missile frigates, built in India and developed from the earlier Godavari class. INS Godavari was the lead ship of that earlier class and was decommissioned in 2015.

A Community Note attached to Kemp's post described the ships as Kolkata-class destroyers, a different, newer class, so the note appears to have misidentified them.

A US Navy photographer took the photograph during the 2008 Malabar exercise, a bilateral exercise between the US and Indian navies.

Kemp's message opened: 'From the early days of our nation's founding, the Navy has stood watch.' It ended: 'On its birthday, we salute the sailors whose service, sacrifice, and courage carry that legacy forward.'

Dave Brown, identified by AlterNet as deputy Washington bureau chief at The Wall Street Journal, spotted the error. 'Those are Indian warships,' he wrote on X. A Community Note was later added to Kemp's post identifying the vessels.

'Why is a US governor using a picture of Indian Navy ships to wish the US Navy a happy birthday,' one X user asked. That post had been viewed more than 530,000 times and liked about 20,000 times when checked on Wednesday. The account, which posts under the name 'greg', did not name the governor.

Russian Cruisers and a Museum Ship

Kemp, who is term-limited and leaves office in January 2027, was not alone. Moore, a Republican elected in 2024 to represent North Carolina's 14th congressional district and former speaker of the North Carolina House, used the same image of the three Indian frigates. Brown flagged Moore's post as showing Indian warships too.

Mike Dovilla, a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives and a former US Navy lieutenant commander whom AlterNet described as a Navy intelligence veteran of more than 20 years, shared a post reading 'Happy Birthday, U.S. Navy!' over an image of warships that Brown identified as Russian. 'And now we've got Russian warships,' Brown wrote.

Jeffrey J. Dinise, a US Border Patrol official, used an image that Brown identified as a Russian Kirov-class battlecruiser. The Kirov class is a nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser, often described as a battlecruiser in Western reporting because of its exceptional size.

The error crossed party lines. Gloria, a Democrat whose city is home to a major concentration of US Navy ships, shared a photograph of the Mikhail Kutuzov, a Soviet-era cruiser that is now a museum ship in the Russian port of Novorossiysk, according to WION.

The ship belongs to the Sverdlov class of cruisers, which entered Soviet service in the 1950s, and is preserved on the Black Sea coast. Naval Base San Diego is a major US Navy installation and homeport for numerous Pacific Fleet ships.

The Freedom Caucus Foundation, a Republican-aligned think tank, used an image of the Indian Navy frigate INS Trikand. The Trikand is a Talwar-class frigate built at the Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad, Russia, and commissioned into the Indian Navy in 2013.

That overlap may explain part of the confusion. India has long acquired warships from the Soviet Union and Russia, and several of its frigates share Russian designs, so Indian and Russian vessels can look alike to an untrained eye.

A Birthday Dating to 1775

The Navy traces its birthday to 13 October 1775, when the Continental Congress authorised the procurement of two armed vessels to intercept British ships carrying munitions and supplies during the War of Independence.

Politicians and government agencies mark the anniversary each year with official messages. Last year's 250th anniversary featured commemorative events, including an appearance by President Donald Trump at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.

The mix-ups prompted debate on social media about whether public officials and their staff check images before posting, particularly on national occasions, NewsBytes reported.

The Indian ships in Kemp's post have a history with the US Navy. India and the United States have held the Malabar exercise since 1992, and it has since expanded to include Japan, which became a permanent participant in 2015, and Australia, which returned in 2020 after more than a decade away.

The drills have become a cornerstone of naval co-operation between the four countries. The Navy will mark its 252nd birthday on 13 October 2027.