From humble beginnings to maritime dominance: the exciting story behind the Navy’s 249-year history

On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress opened in Philadelphia a letter from George Washingtondated October 5, and read it aloud. The 43-year-old general informed the delegates first about espionage against the Continental Army and secondly – ​​and perhaps most worryingly – about a huge British fleet ‘consisting of a ship of 64 and 20 guns, two sloops of 18 guns, (and ) two Transports with 600 men,” which left Boston on October 4, “calculated for the bombardment of a city – their destination kept deeply secret.”

For his part, Washington feared the worst. His arrests were later that month “unfortunately verified” when the fleet razed the town of Falmouth, Massachusetts, leaving nearly 1,000 civilians homeless, in what Washington called an act “excessive in barbarity and cruelty.” The burning of Falmouth shocked the colonies and many parts of Europe, who could hardly believe that an ‘enlightened’ nation could commit such an atrocity. The nearly eight-hour bombardment, followed by a landing party burning every remaining structure, finally convinced the colonists that the Motherland was non-negotiable. Even many former loyalists had soured on the Crown.

But on October 13, five days before the innocent city was razed, the mere news of such a formidable fleet was enough to rouse the sometimes sheepish delegates in Congress. Until then, many feared that an American navy would irreversibly damage relations with England, signaling a newfound colonial independence, a step that many men in Congress were not yet prepared to take. Just six days earlier, after Rhode Island submitted a proposal to arm American ships, the unbelieving Samuel Chase called it “the craziest idea in the world to think of building an American fleet.” Washington’s letter changed everything.

Faced with the prospect of a collection of well-armed ships “calculated for the bombardment of a city,” the Continental Congress quickly reconsidered Rhode Island’s age-old proposal. In his letter, Washington announced that he had “obtained three ships to be fitted out to cut off the enemy.” Encouraged by the letter, the delegates authorized Washington to equip his ships for war.

“Dissolved,” delegates wrote‘That a fast-sailing ship, capable of carrying ten guns, and a proportionate number of swivels, with eighty men, may be equipped with all possible despatch for a cruise of three months; and that the Commander be ordered to proceed eastward, for the interception of transports which may be laden with warlike stores and other supplies for our enemies, and for such other purposes as Congress may direct.

With that crucial act, the United States Navy was born. Almost 200 years later, in 1972, war hero and chief of naval operations, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt“authorized the official recognition of October 13 as the anniversary of the United States Navy.”

The Continental Navy quickly became an indispensable force in the war effort against Great Britain, with more than 50 armed ships. Five years after the end of the war, the Founders at the Constitutional Convention granted Congress the power to “provide and maintain a navy.”Article I, Section 8),” which prompted the federal government to create the Department of the Navy on April 11, 1798. John Adams, the second president of the United States, signed the law.

For 249 years, the United States Navy has courageously protected us. What started as ‘the craziest idea in the world’ has since evolved into the most powerful navy in the world (although the US Navy is only the fourth largest in the world, the World Directory of Modern Military Warships ranks it as the strongest). We are grateful for the heroic men and women who made this possible.