USS San Antonio (LPD 17) approaches its assigned berthing space in Baltimore, Md. After receiving a gun salute from cannons at Fort McHenry. The U.S. Navy ship was one of the naval vessels in the Port of Baltimore commemorating the Bicentennial of the War of 1812 and the writing of the National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner. Naval vessels from the United States and other maritime nations are visiting to welcome the public aboard, offering an opportunity to better understand sea power and its importance to ensuring the unobstructed access to and free use of the world’s oceans, which are essential to our national welfare and prosperity, just as it was in 1812 when the United States Navy went to war to defend and has been protecting ever since.