On October 13, 1775, the Second Continental Congress established the Continental Navy. How could the rebellious colonies dream of putting themselves forward as a sea power against the Royal Navy, the strongest maritime force in the world? It was another instance of the weakness that sometimes makes men audacious. Knowing that they had neither the expertise nor the resources to build warships, the Congressional delegates saw the opportunity to launch a campaign of harassment against British shipping. The initial goal was to purchase two armed ships to attack unarmed merchant vessels. As usual, Congress was a half-step behind the realities. George Washington had taken the initiative by commissioning ships to attack the vessels supplying the British terrestrial forces. Congress was catching up.
But Congress’s action is now remembered as the official birthdate of the U.S. Navy. Washington had commissioned the USS Hannah out of Marblehead, a four-gun schooner, in September 1775. But it was an off-the-books operation—a privateer. Congress made the Hannah an official warship on October 13.
Not a moment too soon. Hannah’s first exploit, on September 11, had been to capture the Unity, flying a British flag and filled with fish, lumber, and munitions. It was a clean victory, but because the Unity had been an American vessel before the British had seized it, Congress ordered that the ship and its contents be returned to its original American owner. The Hannah’s Marblehead crew was incensed at losing their prize, and it did not help matters that the rightful owner, John Langdon, was himself a member of Congress and a confidant of George Washington. The sailors staged a brief—and bloodless—mutiny. The captain appealed to Washington to reverse the decision to return the Unity to Langdon, but Washington refused and ordered harsh punishments for the Hannah’s crew. On further thought, Washington remitted the punishments for all but the ringleader, who received 20 lashes and a dishonorable discharge.
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Let’s say it was not the most auspicious start for the American Navy.
Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress met on October 13, is often cited as the birthplace of the American Navy. Marblehead makes a similar claim, because after all, that was the home port of that first ship. But there is a third claimant. A year later, Benedict Arnold—still an American patriot in 1776—built a fleet of sixteen ships in Skenesboro, New York, at the base of Lake Champlain, with the goal of blocking a lake-borne British invasion. Sixteen custom-built ships are a lot more Navy-esque than one re-commissioned privateer. But when the British under Burgoyne invaded Lake Champlain, the American fleet proved of no avail.
So let’s let October 13 stand as the birthdate, and give precedence to Philadelphia, never mind Congress’s self-dealing. War preparations always have a seamy side, and even the Revolution, it seems, had its own Daddy Warbucks. Thank goodness that America’s ingenious privateers continued the work of the Hannah for some months. Still, the Scottish-born John Paul Jones volunteered and took his first American command in 1776. At that point, America had not just a titular Navy but one of history’s greatest naval commanders.
America would, in time, have the world’s most powerful navy, but the U.S. Navy in its origins was little more than a gamble based on the recognition that the British forces had a very long and very vulnerable supply line. The Revolution succeeded because of such gambles.
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Image: “USSHannah” on Wikipedia, edited by Jared Gould
