"[4] Contemporary usage appears to have been coined in 2005 to describe private boaters who served as volunteer rescuers in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina; it was apparently used as such by then-Tulane University history professor Douglas Brinkley in a speech, as cited in the Baton Rouge Advocate:[5] Among the unsung heroes, Brinkley said, are those anonymous boat operators—dubbed the Cajun navy—who navigated their private fishing boats and other vessels through flooded New Orleans to lend a hand after the hurricane hit.
The term received more currency in 2015, the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, when commemorative articles in the media referred to the loose organization of south Louisiana boaters.
"[8] Fortune magazine noted, "In the midst of one of the most severe (yet least-reported) natural disasters in recent history, a homegrown volunteer rescue squad known as the Cajun Navy is providing badly needed relief in flood-ravaged Louisiana.
"[2] The Baton Rouge Advocate summed up the feelings of many when it wrote: "The heroes hailed from the Cajun Navy, the nickname for an impromptu flotilla of volunteers who had no admiral, no uniforms, no military medals awaiting them for acts of valor.
One volunteer realized that a couple of mobile phone applications that he used for a game, Zello and Glympse, would be helpful in organizing the rescue attempts.
[13] In August 2017, the Cajun Navy engaged in rescue operations in response to the major flooding of Southeast Texas by Hurricane Harvey.
The Chicago Tribune referred to them "roar[ing] into Pasadena, Texas...in high-clearance pickup trucks with bass boats and pirogues like the Cajun Cavalry, ready to help search and rescue efforts alongside first responders who were inundated with thousands of calls across the region".
[14] Cajun Navy groups formed in the year following the Louisiana flooding performed more than 5,000 rescues in Southeast Texas, throughout cities and towns including Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Vidor.
Senator Marco Rubio, the Cajun Navy agreed to participate in relief efforts for storm surge victims of Hurricane Irma within central and southern Florida, in September 2017.
[24] In September 2018 the Cajun Navy was activated and sent to New Bern, North Carolina to assist with rescues in the wake of major flooding from Hurricane Florence.
United Cajun Navy responded[30] to Hurricane Sally providing supplies for Pensacola Florida residents as well as Orange Beach Alabama.