CONTINENTAL NAVY ACTIONS NOTE As you read this chapter, check the maps at the back of the chapter. The new Navy ordered to be established by the Continental  Congress  came  into  being  in  the  last months of 1775. To build a fleet, Congress authorized the construction of 13 new frigates (ranging from 24 to 32  guns)  and  the  conversion  of  6  merchant  ships (ranging from 10 to 24 guns). These merchant ships included the USS Hornet and the USS Alfred. The USS Alfred  had the distinction of being the U.S. Navy’s first flagship and is said to be the first U.S. naval vessel on which the “Flag of Freedom” was hoisted (by John Paul Jones).  All  were  solidly  constructed  ships  with  a number  of  guns.  Even  so,  they  were  at  a  serious disadvantage  because  they  were  pitted  against  the established and superior British force—then the finest Navy in the world. The first commander in chief, Esek Hopkins, put the first  squadron  of  the  Continental  Navy  to  sea  in February 1776. Under the guns of the USS  Providence and the USS Wasp and with the squadron headed by the USS  Alfred, over 200 Sailors and Marines landed on New Providence Island in the Bahamas. John Paul Jones served as first lieutenant aboard the USS  Alfred. Hopkins’ raid on New Providence Island was the first amphibious operation carried out by the American Navy and Marines. The squadron captured a number of cannons and supplies from the fort. Because the British blockaded the American coast, it was difficult for the newly outfitted ships to reach the sea. The USS Montgomery and the USS Congress, ships of 28 and 24 guns, were built at Poughkeepsie, NY on the Hudson River. When the British occupied the port of New York, these ships were bottled up. To prevent their capture  by  the  enemy,  the  U.S.  government  had  to destroy them. Two more ships built in Philadelphia suffered a similar fate. Some of the others were also blockaded in their home ports, and one ship, the USS Trumbull, was bottled up for 3 years because it couldn’t clear the sandbar in the Connecticut River. The new frigates of the Continental Navy had their moments. The USS Hancock and the USS Boston, both built in Massachusetts, set out together in mid-1777. They captured two British brigs and were then involved in separate actions with the British warships  Somerset and  Fox. After escaping from the  Somerset  on May 30, 1777, they met the  Fox  a week later and successfully captured  it.  Later,  the  two  Continental  ships  were pursued by the powerful HMS  Rainbow. Following a 39-hour pursuit, the  Rainbow  bore down on the USS Hancock  and captured it. The USS  Boston  escaped and continued to serve in various actions over a period of some 3 years. Its last action was in the defense of the Charleston,  South  Carolina,  harbor  where  it  was captured by the British in May 1780. After its capture by the British, the  Hancock  went on to serve in the Revolution, but on the enemy’s side. By a twist of fate, it was the Hancock (renamed the Iris) that captured a sister frigate, the USS  Trumbull, one of the original 13 frigates built for the Continental Navy. (The British crew was said to have called the American built ship one of the finest frigates in which it had sailed.) Among  the  names  associated  with  this  new made-in-America fleet of frigates are John Barry, who courageously commanded many ships; John Manley, who captured the  Nancy  while in Washington’s Navy; and Abraham Whipple. The skipper of the USS Providence, Whipple, was a member of a three-ship force that found itself on the edge of a huge, heavily guarded, enemy convoy off Newfoundland during a fog. Sending armed boarding parties to the merchant ships, the Americans managed to take 11 ships as prizes without being detected by the ships protecting the convoy. Cargoes and captured ships worth a million dollars were dispatched back to the States. John Paul Jones Among the most daring commanders bringing the war to British waters was John Paul Jones (fig. 5-1). As skipper of the USS  Ranger, he left France on April 10, 1778, for raids against the British. After capturing a number of ships, he actually landed on British soil, raiding Whitehaven, England. 5-3 Student Notes: