Baltimore Selected For 2014 Navy Week

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore is one of six cities selected to host a Navy Week in 2014.

Baltimore's Navy Week is Sept. 8-14 and coincides with the Star-Spangled Spectacular. It will give residents the chance to learn about the Navy.

During the week, the Navy will showcase the Blue Angels, the Leap Frogs, visiting U.S. Navy ships, Navy divers and/or Explosive Ordinance Disposal teams and sailors from the USS Constitution.

There will be performances from the Navy Band, talks with admirals and other senior Navy leaders, simulators and other interactive displays, visits to schools, community service projects and events with sports teams and visits with local veterans.

Since 2005, the Navy Week program has served as the Navy's signature outreach effort, with 148 Navy Weeks being held in 62 different U.S. cities.

"Navy Weeks are designed to help Americans understand that their Navy protects and defends America on the world's oceans, that their Navy is deployed around the world around the clock, and is ready to defend America at all times," said Cmdr. Kim Marks, Director of the Navy Office of Community Outreach, which plans and executes the Navy Week program. "Because the Navy is concentrated primarily on both coasts, we're challenged to communicate our mission away from fleet concentration areas. That's where the Navy Week program comes in."

The Navy Week program returns following a year in which sequestration and its impact on outreach spending forced the program to be suspended. Pentagon officials recently announced a plan that enables the military services to resume conducting community and public outreach activities in 2014.

"Community and public outreach is a crucial departmental activity that reinforces trust and confidence in the United States military and in its most important asset – people," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in an internal memorandum to service chiefs and other military leaders. "These proactive engagements showcase our superior combat power, demonstrate readiness to defend the nation, and help to preserve the all-volunteer force."

Other cities selected to host a 2014 Navy Week include: Dallas / Fort Worth; St. Louis; Pittsburgh; Omaha, Neb.; and Mobile, Ala.