Flag of the Continental Navy from 1777 to 1795
The Continental Navy was the navy of the United States during the American Revolutionary War, existing from 1775 to 1783 as the first incarnation of the modern US Navy. Although the Continental Navy had little success in the war with Great Britain's fearsome Royal Navy, future admirals such as John Paul Jones and John Barry would gain experience in naval warfare while serving in the fleet.
History[]
The 1776-1777 jack of the Continental Navy
Admiral John Paul Jones
The Continental Navy was established on 12 June 1775 when Rhode Island passed a resolution creating a state navy to fight against Great Britain. The navy was formally created on 13 October 1775, with John Adams drafting the first governing regulations. Naval veterans such as Abraham Whipple, John Paul Jones, and Nicholas Biddle and politicians such as Esek Hopkins, John Burroughs Hopkins, and Dudley Saltonstall would be the first admirals, and the first major naval operation was the Battle of Nassau on 3-4 March 1776, when Esek Hopkins led a raid on the Bahamas to steal gunpowder from the British Army. However, the 6 April 1776 Battle of Block Island was a British victory, as was the Battle of Valcour Island on 11 October of that same year. Valcour Island proved that the Americans could not hope to defeat the British in large naval battles, so the Continental Congress decided to issue letters of marque to privateers and authorized attacks on British shipping. On 23 September 1779, the most famous naval action of the war between the Americans and British occurred when John Paul Jones and Bonhomme Richard fought HMS Serapis off Flamborough Head, capturing the British ship, while the French ship Pallas would capture the other British ship, HMS Countess of Scarborough. 65 vessels would see action with the Continental Navy, although only 11 would survive the war. The desperate government of the United States would sell its last ships to help the economy, with the last ship being sold in 1783, a mere two years after the end of the American Revolutionary War.