CONTINENTAL NAVY AUTHORIZED
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (JFK+50) On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress of the United States of America gave the authorization for a Continental Navy. the wake of news that a British naval fleet was en route to the United States.
The American navy, with the city of Boston under martial law, was to "intercept arms and provisions" on the way to supply the British army.
By the end of the month, four armed vessels were authorized for purchase by the Continental Congress.
The first fleet of the United States, composed of seven ships, was commanded by Esek Hopkins.* The Department of the Navy would be established in April 1798.
*Esek Hopkins (1718-1802), the only Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the War for Independence, was born in Rhode Island. Unable to pay his crews as much as those of privateers, Hopkins was censured by the Congress and terminated in 1778.
Commodore Esek Hopkins
Commander in Chief
Continental Navy
Anne S.K. Brown Collection
by Thomas Hart (1781)
