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A history of warfare has always marked that rise of a nation to power; the Greeks,

Romans, Persians, and so on carry with them stories of conquest. So it is not surprising

that the America¶s and the United States in particular should have a similar account. The

American nation forged in the fires of the revolution carries a reputation of military

supremacy that has remained unmatched in the New World Theater, and eventually the

world. No one branch of the military has helped to establish this feeling of superiority

better than the U.S. Navy.

Birth of a Navy and the American Revolution

The United States Navy has its roots in the American Revolution when the

Continental Congress commissioned a Naval Committee to organize a war at sea on the

13th of October, 1775.1 2 The Continental Marines followed soon after on the 10th of

November of the same year.3 This is seen as the birth of the Continental Navy, and the

origins of the U.S. Navy. The Navy was to play an important role in the war seeing as

they were facing Great Britain, then known as the dominate power at sea.

In order to understand the Navy one must first understand ships. The 18th century

was the time of the warship. This was when the merchant and warship classes became

separate and different. The warship is classified by the armament it carries; therefore,

records show the terminology ³100-gun ship, 74-gun ship,´ etc. Within that certain gun



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classes had names given: Ships of the Line (60-100 guns), Frigates (20-56 guns), and

Sloops of War (8-10). 4

With this in mind picture the Continental Navy of only a dozen or so sloops

against the might of the British Royal Navy. The British Navy entered the revolution

with 131 Ships of the Line, 98 Frigates, and 38 Sloops.5 With these ships came also the

training and discipline that only a hundred years of naval excellence and tradition could

offer.

It would seem and insurmountable task to challenge such odds, but the Americans

still had a chance, and that chance was found in privateering. Privateering is the practice

of governments issuing letters of marquee to private individuals who then use their own

personal ships and equipment to raid enemy ships and settlements; in other words, it can

be seen as government controlled and sanctioned piracy. Over the course of the war

Congress would issue 1,697 letters of marquee.6

This coupled with the help of our allies, the French fleet, would lead to the defeat

of the British at Yorktown on the 19th of October, 1781; almost six years to the day of the

Continental Navy¶s commissioning.7 While America was victorious it was clear that we

were no military power in the global sense quite yet.


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Xevelopment and the War of 1812

Soon after the American Revolution the Continental Congress began to sell off

ships. In fact there is a nine year period where the nation will have no military naval

force. The Revenue Marine, later to be known as the U.S. Coast Guard, is formed to

maintain our seaside boarders in August, 1790.8 9 Tensions between America and Europe

rise and eventually lead to the Quasi-War with France. Congress creates the Department

of the Navy and authorizes the President to form a standing fleet for coastal defense.

With the reorganization of the Navy came the forming of the official U.S. Marine

Corps on the 11th of July, 1798.10 11 Several small scale naval skirmishes occurred on the

Atlantic between U.S. and French ships, but eventually peace was reached. Though the

Quasi-War came to a rather uneventful close, the stage had been set for a larger

confrontation. This occurred on June 18, 1812 when the United States declared war on

Britain.12

Once again, America came ill prepared to face the naval force of the British who

had 1,048 ships in service. This compared to the seventeen ships, none of which ranked

above a frigate (20-56 guns), in the U.S. Navy show the different mindset that each

country had when it came to the navy.13 During this war the Atlantic Campaign served

no real tactical purpose for the Americans. As the above numbers demonstrate the U.S.

Navy had no real power. It did however serve a purpose.


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That purpose was morale and propaganda. Ships like the U.S.S.

CONSTITUTION, a 44-gun ship, became immortalized as symbols of the war; taking on

impossible odds and coming out victorious. In fact, the U.S.S. CONSTITUTION is still

an actively commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy today, standing for freedom and

victory.14 The war ended on the 17th of February, 1815 and the American people learned

from their mistakes. Congress set aside $8,000,000 to be spent over the next eight years

to build a larger and more powerful navy.15

c ploration, Piracy, and the Me ican-American War

With the end of the war of 1812 came a period of relative calm between America

and Europe. This ³Second War of Independence´ as some saw it finally convinced

Britain of our independence from them. This period however did not mean that the Navy

would have any rest. While piracy had been common in the Caribbean the revolutions

within Spanish South America had increased their numbers, and by 1819 the American

government took a strong no tolerance policy towards them. This policy also had the

Navy enforce America¶s end of the Atlantic slave trade as well.

This non-piracy stance led to a global hunt to secure American trade interests

around the globe. Most of the conflict settled in the Mediterranean where Privateers of

the recent Grecian War for independence turned pirate at the end of the war. The

American fleet slowly found, captured, or destroyed almost all pirate activity. It marked

the death of piracy in the modern world as a viable profession.



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With the United States established as a local power in the Americas the focus

turned to outreaching to and trading with foreign nations. Expeditions were sent to

Europe as well as the Far East. As trade opened up the navy was commissioned to

explore and chart the seas. The most notable of these expeditions was the one lead by

Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the sloop VINCENNES who discovered Antarctica in

1840.16 17

Unfortunately this time of relative peace would come to an end in April of 1846

when Mexico would declare war on the United States.18 The Navy would play a role

similar to the one the British Navy did on us during the American Revolution and the

War of 1812; meaning that they were to maintain a blockade on the mainland. The Navy

worked to keep supplies and trade from reaching the mainland.

Here we see the first true usage of the Marines as an amphibious attack force.

The Marine Corps executed several successful sea-to-land campaigns that captured many

key points. They also played a key role in the capture of Mexico City the capital; in fact,

the marines under command of one Colonel Watson were the first to enter the Capital.19

It was this charge and leading role that inspired the Marine Hymn to begin with the

phrase ³From the Halls of Montezuma.´20

With the capture of the capital and the end of the war the Navy was once again

tasked with exploration some of which included exploring the Arctic Circle, the Dead

Sea, Japan, and exploring the sea to map star charts for more reliable navigation.


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Commodore Matthew C. Perry opened Japan from its isolationist state in 1854, Captain

William L. Hudson built the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, and many other

influential acts of the time period are brought about by the U.S. Navy.21 22

hanging Times and the American ivil War

This time period also saw the introduction of many new and improved

technologies within the naval community. Copper plating was added to ships hulls to

prevent the rotting of wood; cannons were improved in design for better range and

accuracy, and steam powered engines began to be implemented on ships. All this

heralded in a new era for the navies of the world; one that reflects our modern navies of

today.

While the Navy may have been flourishing the Nation was is the middle of a huge

debate, and that debate was on the topic of slavery. With the election of President

Lincoln the southern states take their leave and secede. Forming the Confederacy they

declare war upon the United States by bombarding Fort Sumter on the 12th of April,

1861.23 The Navy sent a fleet to reinforce the Fort, but they arrived too late able only to

evacuate the garrison. 24

The strategy of the United States Navy was to blockade the south. This strategy

was known as the Anaconda Plan and it called for a complete blockade with a strong

presence in the Mississippi river.25 26 The plan was meant to keep the Confederate forces




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completely isolated from the outside world, and by taking the Mississippi cut the

Confederacy in half.

The Confederates, penned in by the blockade had no real means to resist the U.S.

Navy. So they relied on smaller faster ships to run the blockades in order to smuggle

supplies into the Confederacy. These ³Blockade Runners´ as they were called consisted

usually of privateer merchantmen. These coupled with the use of underwater mines gave

the Confederacy some leverage to combat the Union Navy.

The most important, and probably the most famous, naval engagement of the

Civil War is the one that took place on the 9th of March, 1862 between the U.S.S.

MONITOR and the C.S.S. VIRGINIA.27 These were of course the first ironclad ships to

ever sail. The ironclads were ships fully covered in plate iron and that meant that they

were heavily shielded from cannon fire, so much so that in fact after four hours of

fighting neither ship was able to sink the other. While a total standstill this battle showed

the world the changing times and the implications they brought to the field of battle.28 29

With the eventual fall of the Mississippi to the Union Forces the Confederacy was

split down the middle. The Union able to ferry men and supplies up and down the

Mississippi soon took control of the south and ended the war.

The Navy of Today


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The World has changed since the time of the MONITOR and VIRGINIA, but the

Navy still stands as a testament of American ingenuity and strength. Americans can

always take pride in the men and women who sacrifice their time and sometime their

very lives to preserve our liberty.

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