The Navy's weeklong 250th anniversary celebration kicked off Thursday with a procession of ships on the Delaware River and aircraft flyovers.

Four Navy ships, two Coast Guard cutters and four Naval Academy Yard Patrol boats participated, looked on by watch parties that gathered from New Castle, Delaware to Philadelphia. The Navy, which was founded in Philly in 1775, has dubbed its semiquincentennial its "Homecoming 250." And for some onlookers at the Navy Yard, the celebration represented a homecoming of their own.

By 10 a.m., Mustin Field was packed with hundreds of people who had traveled there from throughout the United States. Donning military gear, binoculars and cameras, they lined lawn chairs along the river as they joined the celebrations.

Wendy Lang, of Burlington City, New J

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