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In late 1775, the Continental Congress appointed a Marine Committee consisting of seven members, and gave it the mandate to organize a navy. All up and down the coast, new ships slid down the stocks almost on a daily basis. The largest American towns-Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore-were all Atlantic seaports which developed professional seamen and the necessary ingredients for shipbuilding: warehouses, ropewalks, boat builder’s sheds, sail lofts, and counting houses.

Shipbuilding and the timber business formed the principal industries of colonial America, supplying both local and home country maritime needs. The sea was a principal means of transportation and colonists looked to the sea to provide their living the sea was a barrier to their enemies and a marine highway to their mother country. Early English settlers to the 13 colonies were as much drawn to the sea as to the land. The fledgling Continental Navy created at the outset of the American Revolution had its roots in early colonial America. While its early history is rich with heroes such as John Paul Jones, Edward Preble, Stephen Decatur, David Farragut, and George Dewey, the evolving navy also demonstrated a willingness to embrace emerging naval technologies in times of war in an effort to achieve parity with-and ultimately superiority over-other naval powers. Here, we examine the founding and remarkable, if uneven, growth of the Navy from 1776 to 1914. Its early American leaders would be astonished to see that their fledgling navy has become the world’s dominant naval force. The Navy’s ability to project force above, on, and beneath the waves, control shipping lanes, and dominate airspace over the world’s hotspots is without parallel.

Today, the United States Navy stands unchallenged as the world’s most powerful maritime force.

When the auctioneer’s gavel came down, the Continental Navy ceased to exist. On a warm August day in 1785, at the Merchants’ Coffee House in Philadelphia, an eight-year-old Continental Navy 32-gun frigate named Alliance was auctioned off for $26,000. The Rise of the American Navy 1775 - 1914 Close