Historical Document 1.

 Reading:  Michael Palmer, The History of the US Navy

• Provides succinct overview of how the colonists fought the naval war
• Excerpt from chapter on “The Continental Period, 1775-1890.”

• Read paragraphs 1-9

The Naval War in the American Revolution

How did the American colonists fight the naval war?

 1.   The “Army’s Fleets” (active 1775-1776)

George Washington’s Navy

• Goal: to confiscate military supplies and equipment from the British

• Thus central purpose was to practice guerre de course warfare

• Total of 55 prizes

Benedict Arnold’s Fleet

• Battle of Valcour Island (Lake Champlain)

 2.   Continental Navy (est. 1775)
 

• Maximum size (1777): 34 vessels

• Minimum size (1781): 2 ships

• Practiced guerre de course warfare; transported soldiers; ferried diplomats across the Atlantic

• Source of first naval “heroes” (including John Paul Jones)

 3.   Privateering (est. 1775)
 

• MA and RI were the first colonies to authorize privateering

• During war, 1697 letters of marque issued; and American privateers captured some 600 prizes

• 1781: peak prize year: 450 prizes

• Practiced guerre de course warfare

 4.   States Navies (est. 1777)
 

• 11 states had navies: Virginia’s was ultimately the biggest

• MA and RI were the first states to establish state navies

• Created to protect the states’ ports and harbors

 5. The French Navy (allied since 1778; decisive in 1781)
 

• A proxy navy for the Americans

• This large and established European navy was capable of facing the Royal Navy in fleet warfare (guerre d’escadre)

• Battle of the Chesapeake/Battle of the Capes ( (Sept. 1781)

• Thus played a fundamental role in the achievement of American independence.

Why did the Colonists Wage a Guerre de Course?

Why was John Paul Jones in the waters of the British isles?  What was his naval mission and why?

The American colonists were forced to fight a naval guerre de course because of a lack of money, time, and skilled personnel.  All professional navies were (and are) expensive institutions to create and maintain, for ships are costly to acquire, and personnel must be trained.  Furthermore, developing a fleet and a corps of knowledgeable officers and sailors takes considerable time to achieve.  Fleet vs. fleet warfare – guerre d’escadre – was especially expensive during the Age of Sail, as it required a multitude of the largest and most powerfully armed ships (ships-of-the-line) and thousands of trained personnel.  The Americans had no time to develop a fleet of this size and caliber, nor did they possess the necessary funds.  Indeed, on the one occasion during the Revolutionary War when a fleet battle took place, it was not the Americans who fought the British.  The Americans, with their meager naval assets, could not have done this.  Rather, it was the professional navy of the colonists’ ally, France, which faced and defeated the British at the 1781 Battle of the Chesapeake (also called Battle of the Capes).

With a modest investment, however, a state could mount a naval guerre de course, and this is exactly what the Americans did.  Over the course of the war, using “Washington’s Navy” (a small naval squadron cobbled together at the wishes of George Washington), privateers and the Continental Navy, the Americans sent their ships out alone or in pairs to harass British trade.  American commerce raiders targeted British shipping in the Caribbean, the Atlantic -- and after cementing a formal alliance with France in 1778, and thus able to make use French ports as bases -- the North Sea and waters surrounding Britain itself.  This, then, was John Paul Jones’ mission when he faced off against the HMS Serapis, a warship whose duty was to escort a convoy of British merchant vessels.  The Battle of Flamborough Head was a decisive, successful, and now famous instance of guerre de course warfare that occurred in Britain’s own backyard.