Why the Continental Congress Created a Navy

In 1775, the American colonies were fighting a war against Britain. Much of the fighting took place on land, but the ocean mattered, too. British ships carried soldiers and supplies across the Atlantic. If the colonists could interrupt those shipments, they might make it harder for British forces to fight.

The colonies faced a serious problem. Britain had a powerful navy, while the colonists did not have a single navy of their own. They also needed weapons and gunpowder. Stopping a supply ship could keep those goods from reaching British troops and might provide useful materials for the colonial forces.

On October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress took an important step. Congress was a group of representatives from the colonies that was directing the war effort. It authorized the fitting out of two armed sailing vessels. Their mission was to cruise for three months and intercept ships carrying weapons and other supplies to British forces in America.

Congress did not order a huge fleet that day. Its first plan called for relatively small, swift vessels, including one with ten carriage guns, or cannons mounted on wheeled frames. Speed mattered because the vessels would have to find and catch ships traveling across a wide ocean. The plan was designed to meet an urgent need rather than to match Britain's entire navy.