John Paul Jones was a Scottish-born American naval officer who served in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War. Often referred to as the "Father of the American Navy", Jones is regarded by several commentators as one of the greatest naval commanders in the military history of the United States. Born in Arbigland, Kirkcudbrightshire, Jones became a sailor at the age of thirteen, and served in the British Merchant Navy, including several slave ships. After killing a mutinous subordinate, he fled to the British colony of Virginia to avoid being arrested and in c. 1775 joined the newly established Continental Navy.
The first Alliance of the United States Navy was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the American Revolutionary War.
The Continental Navy was the navy of the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War. Founded on October 13, 1775, the fleet developed into a substantial force throughout the Revolutionary War, owing partially to the efforts of naval patrons within the Continental Congress. These congressional patrons included the likes of John Adams, who served as the chairman of the Naval Committee until 1776, when Commodore Esek Hopkins received instruction from the Continental Congress to assume command of the force.
HMS Serapis was a Royal Navy two-decked, Roebuck-class fifth rate. Randall & Brent built her at Greenland South Dockyard, Rotherhithe and launched her in 1779. She was armed with 44 guns. Serapis was named after the god Serapis in Greek and Egyptian mythology. The Americans captured her during the American War of Independence. They transferred her to the French, who commissioned her as a privateer. She was lost off Madagascar in 1781 to a fire.
Richard Dale was an American naval officer who fought in the Continental Navy under John Barry and was first lieutenant for John Paul Jones during the naval battle off of Flamborough Head, England against HMS Serapis in the celebrated engagement of September 23, 1779. He became one of the six original commodores of the permanent United States Navy, and commanded a blockade of Tripoli in 1801 during the First Barbary War of Thomas Jefferson's presidency.
Striking the colors—meaning lowering the flag that signifies a ship's or garrison's allegiance—is a universally recognized indication of surrender, particularly for ships at sea. For a ship, surrender is dated from the time the ensign is struck.
Nathaniel Fanning was an officer in the Continental Navy and later the United States Navy, who served aboard Bonhomme Richard during its 1779 battle with HMS Serapis.
Edward Stack was an officer in the United States Marine Corps during the American Revolutionary War.
USNS Henson (T-AGS-63) is a Pathfinder-class oceanographic survey ship. It is the fourth ship in the class. Henson is named after Matthew Henson, who accompanied Robert Peary, most famously on an expedition intended to reach the Geographic North Pole in 1909.
Events from the year 1779 in Great Britain.
The Battle of Flamborough Head was a naval battle that took place on 23 September 1779 in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire between a combined Franco-American squadron, led by Continental Navy officer John Paul Jones, and two British escort vessels protecting a large merchant convoy. It became one of the most celebrated naval actions of the war in America, despite its relatively small size and a considerable dispute over what had actually occurred.
Serapis is a name given to an unconventional, early United States ensign flown from the captured British frigate Serapis.
Surveillante was an Iphigénie-class 32-gun frigate of the French Navy. She took part in the Naval operations in the American Revolutionary War, where she became famous for her battle with HMS Quebec; in 1783, she brought the news that the war was over to America. She later took part in the French Revolutionary Wars, and was eventually scuttled during the Expédition d'Irlande after sustaining severe damage in a storm. The wreck was found in 1979 and is now a memorial.
HMS Ariel was a 20-gun Sphinx-class sixth-rate post ship of the Royal Navy. The French captured her in 1779, and she served during the American Revolutionary War for them, and later for the Americans, before reverting to French control. Her French crew scuttled Ariel in 1793 to prevent the British from recapturing her.
Sir Richard Pearson (1731–1806) was a British naval officer who was captain of the ship HMS Serapis during the American Revolution.
Events from the year 1779 in the United States.
The Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB) of the Naval History & Heritage Command (NHHC) is a unit of the United States Department of the Navy. It was formally founded in 1996 as a consequence of the emerging need to manage, study, conserve, and curate the U.S. Navy's submerged cultural resources.
The John Paul Jones Cottage Museum is located on the Arbigland Estate near Kirkbean in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The cottage is where John Paul Jones, hero of the American Revolutionary War and founder of the United States Navy, was born in 1747. Jones' father was a gardener for the estate.
Countess of Scarborough was launched at Whitby in 1777. The Royal Navy hired her as a hired armed ship in 1777. She participated in the capture of two privateers before she and HMS Serapis succumbed to a small American flotilla off Flamborough Head in 1779. She briefly became a French privateer. Her subsequent fate is unknown.
USS Vengeance (1779) was a former merchant ship that served under the command of John Paul Jones in the Revolutionary War. The French Royal Navy purchased her at Bordeaux in 1779 for Jones and sold her when she arrived at Dunkirk in January 1780 after the battle between Bonhomme Richard and the rest of Jones's squadron on the one side, and HMS Serapis and HM hired armed ship Countess of Scarborough on the other.
United States
