On October 30, 1775, the Continental Congress picked 7 men to serve on the naval committee. The naval committee had to build up a fleet of ships and find men to sail them in defense against the British. Members of the first naval committee included men from Congress and several “founding fathers,” like future president John Adams, Joseph Hewes, John Langdon, Richard Henry Lee, Silas Deane and Stephen Hopkins, the committee’s chairman. Congress picked 4 captains to the new committee: Dudley Saltonstall, Abraham Whipple, Nicholas Biddle and John Burrows Hopkins.
The fleet was made up of 5 ships, the 24-gun frigates Alfred and Columbus, and the14-gun brigs Andrew Doria and Cabot, as well as three schooners, the Hornet, the Wasp and the Fly. Each ship and schooner had its own first lieutenant and second lieutenant. The fleet grew to more than 40 armed ships and vessels at the hardest part of the War for Independence. This new Continental Navy was successful in its attacks against British merchant ships, and they won many victories over British warships. This first naval force ended after the war. However, the United States Navy that we know now was formally begun with the creation of the federal Department of the Navy in April 1798.
