The Reluctant Navy: The History of the United States Navy, 1775–1815 Part I: A Navy No One Wanted, 1775–1783
The United States Navy is today the most powerful naval force in the world.[1] Its origins, however, were anything but certain. As one historian observed, “For no nation was ever less willing to create a navy.”[2]
The debate in the Continental Congress lasted ten days. Many southern delegates believed a navy would primarily benefit northern commercial interests. Others feared that establishing a navy would provoke the Royal Navy into overwhelming retaliation. Still others worried that it would permanently destroy any hope of reconciliation with Britain.
Pro-naval representatives led by John Adams ultimately prevailed. On October 13, 1775, Congress authorized two armed vessels to intercept British supply ships. That resolution became the birth certificate of the Continental Navy.[3]
Naval warfare had already begun. In May 1775, Captain James Mugford captured HMS Hope, seizing desperately needed gunpowder.[4] Benedict Arnold soon captured a British sloop on Lake Champlain.[5] These early actions demonstrated that Americans were already fighting at sea, even before Congress formally acted.
Congress quickly expanded the fleet, purchasing merchant vessels and forming two battalions of Marines. In February 1776, Commodore Esek Hopkins led the navy’s first major expedition, seizing military supplies in the Bahamas.[6] Though partially successful, operational mistakes allowed the British to remove much of the gunpowder. Worse still, the Continental squadron failed to capture HMS Glasgow in a subsequent engagement.[7] The squadron never recovered, largely because sailors preferred the higher pay of privateering.[8]
Privateers soon became central to the American war effort. Congress authorized letters of marque in 1776, commissioning roughly 2,000 privateers that captured more than 2,200 British merchant ships.[9] By comparison, the Continental Navy captured fewer than 200.[10] While privateers disrupted British commerce and drove insurance rates sharply upward, they drained manpower from the navy and operated only when profitable.[11]
Individual states also created their own navies.[12] Most were composed of small craft suited for coastal defense, though South Carolina and Massachusetts fielded larger frigates.[13]
Even George Washington organized a small fleet. Washington’s vessels captured fifty-five enemy craft, including HMS Nancy, which carried vast quantities of military supplies. Washington wrote that the prize had “given new life to our camp.”[14]
The Continental Navy’s most famous officer was John Paul Jones. After early success commanding the Providence, Jones achieved immortality in September 1779 during his battle with HMS Serapis. When asked if he had struck his colors, Jones replied, “I have not yet begun to fight!”[15] Though his own ship sank, the victory electrified public opinion in Europe and America alike.[16]
Despite such moments of glory, the navy struggled with manpower shortages, funding problems, and divided authority. By the end of the Revolution, most American naval operations had become subordinate to French sea power.[17]
When peace came in 1783, financial necessity forced Congress to sell off nearly every warship. By 1785, the United States had no navy at all.[18]
Endnotes – Part I
[1] Karen Parrish, “DOD Leaders: U.S. Will Remain World’s Strongest Navy,” American Forces Press Service, January 8, 2012. [2] Nathan Miller, The U.S. Navy: A History, 3rd ed. (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1997), 15. [3] “The Birth of the Navy of the United States,” Naval History & Heritage Command. [4] John C. Fredriksen, The United States Navy: A Chronology (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2010), 1. [5] Ibid., 1–2. [6] Miller, The U.S. Navy, 11–12. [7] Ibid. [8] Fredriksen, Chronology, 5. [9] Jonathan R. Dull, American Naval History, 1607–1865 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 2012), 28. [10] James M. Volo, Blue Water Patriots (Westport: Praeger, 2007), 47. [11] Stephen Howarth, To Shining Sea (New York: Random House, 1991), 13–16. [12] R. Blake Dunnavent, Brown Water Warfare (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2003), 11–12. [13] Volo, Blue Water Patriots, 53–55. [14] Nathan Miller, Broadsides (Edison: Castle Books, 2005), 19. [15] Howarth, To Shining Sea, 39. [16] Ibid., 41. [17] Fredriksen, Chronology, 16–18. [18] Miller, The U.S. Navy, 33.
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