The first Alliance of the United States Navy was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the American Revolutionary War.
The first USS Virginia was a 28-gun sailing frigate of the Continental Navy, a ship with a short and unfortunate career.
The first USS Lexington of the Thirteen Colonies was a brig purchased in 1776. The Lexington was an 86-foot (26 m) two-mast wartime sailing ship for the fledgling Continental Navy of the Colonists during the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).
USS Providence was a sloop-of-war in the Continental Navy, originally chartered by the Rhode Island General Assembly as Katy. The ship took part in a number of campaigns during the first half of the American Revolutionary War before being destroyed by her own crew in 1779 to prevent her falling into the hands of the British after the failed Penobscot Expedition.
Alfred was the merchant vessel Black Prince, named for Prince Edward, Duke of Cornwall and launched in 1774. The Continental Navy acquired her in 1775, renaming her Alfred after 9th century English monarch Alfred of Wessex, and commissioned her as a 24-gun frigate. During the American Revolutionary War, the Alfred participated in two major naval operations; the battles of Nassau and Block Island. The Royal Navy captured her in 1778, took her into service as HMS Alfred, and sold her in 1782. She then became the merchantman Alfred, and sailed between London and Jamaica.
USS Raleigh was one of thirteen ships that the Continental Congress authorized for the Continental Navy in 1775. Following her capture in 1778, she served in the Royal Navy as HMS Raleigh. The ship is featured on the flag and seal of New Hampshire.
Samuel Tucker was an officer in the Continental Navy and the United States Navy.
The first USS Hancock was an armed schooner under the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. She was named for patriot and presiding officer of the Continental Congress, John Hancock. Congress returned her to her owner in 1777 after deeming the vessel to be unsuitable for the new Continental Navy.
The first USS Lee was a schooner under the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. She was named for General Charles Lee.
John Manley (c.1733–1793) was an officer in the Continental Navy and the United States Navy. Manley was appointed commodore of "George Washington's fleet."
The first USS Randolph was a 32-gun frigate in the Continental Navy named for Founding Father Peyton Randolph, the president of the First Continental Congress. Attaining only moderate success in her career, Randolph was destroyed by an explosion of her gunpowder stores during a naval action on 8 March 1778.
HMS Lively was a 20-gun post ship of the Royal Navy, launched in 1756. During the Seven Years' War she captured several vessels, most notably the French corvette Valeur in 1760. She then served during the American Revolutionary War, where she helped initiate the Battle of Bunker Hill. The French captured her in 1778, but the British recaptured her in 1781. She was sold in 1784.
The schooner Hannah was the first armed American naval vessel of the American Revolution, authorized by the Continental Congress and operated by the Continental Army, and is considered by some the first vessel of the United States Navy. She was a fishing schooner owned by John Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts and was named for his daughter, Hannah Glover. The crew was drawn largely from the town of Marblehead, with much of the ship's ammunition being stored in Glover's warehouse now located at Glover's Square in Marblehead before being relocated to Beverly, Massachusetts.
Proserpine was a 38-gun Hébé-class frigate of the French Navy launched in 1785 that HMS Dryad captured on 13 June 1796. The Admiralty commissioned Proserpine into the Royal Navy as the fifth rate, HMS Amelia. She spent 20 years in the Royal Navy, participating in numerous actions in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, capturing a number of prizes, and serving on anti-smuggling and anti-slavery patrols. Her most notable action was her intense and bloody, but inconclusive, fight in 1813 with the French frigate Aréthuse. Amelia was broken up in December 1816.
Pomone was a 40-gun frigate of the French Navy, launched in 1785. The British captured her off the Île de Batz in April 1794 and incorporated her into the Royal Navy. Pomone subsequently had a relatively brief but active career in the British Navy off the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of France before suffering sufficient damage from hitting a rock. Due to this, the ship was taken out of service and then broken up in 1803.
USS Harrison was a schooner chartered and outfitted by General George Washington during the American Revolution for the Continental Navy. She was assigned to capture British supply ships as part of Washington's plans for the siege of Boston, Massachusetts, and to provide the Continental Army with whatever goods they carried.
USS Lynch was a schooner acquired as part of the Continental Navy in 1776. She served for over a year on the New England coast, interfering with British maritime trade when possible. In 1777 she was assigned dispatch boat duty and, after delivering her secret dispatches to France, set sail for the United States with French secret dispatches. The British captured her, but not before she could destroy the French dispatches.
The first USS Warren was a schooner that served in the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to 1776. She was named for patriot Joseph Warren, who had been killed at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
American colonial marines were various naval infantry units which served during the Revolutionary War on the Patriot side. After the conflict broke out in 1775, nine of the rebelling Thirteen Colonies established state navies to carry out naval operations. Accordingly, several marine units were raised to serve as an infantry component aboard the ships of these navies. The marines, along with the navies they served in, were intended initially as a stopgap measure to provide the Patriots with naval capabilities before the Continental Navy reached a significant level of strength. After its establishment, state navies, and the marines serving in them, participated in several operations alongside the Continental Navy and its marines.
Tyrannicide was a 14-gun brigantine-rigged sloop of the Massachusetts State Navy. The ship was built for the American Revolutionary War and participated in commerce raiding until destroyed in the Penobscot expedition.
United Colonies