U.S. History

How did the US develop the most powerful navy in history?

America’s Navy is more powerful than any other in the world, but that wasn’t always the case. The US Navy was first designated the Continental Navy. Not long after the Revolutionary War ground battles at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on October 13, 1775, the Continental Congress voted to “fit ships for the purpose of naval warfare,” explained American Battlefield.

The US Navy Began as a Group of Merchant Ships

The first US Navy ships were merchant vessels modified to be warships. As is often the case, the emergence of a naval force resulted from the need to sustain the Continental Army with weapons and ammunition. Initially, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut took responsibility for arming merchant vessels. These early warships patrolled the North Atlantic as privateers raiding British ships. By December 1775, according to The Sextant account, “Congress approved the purchase of 13 frigates.”

No one in the early American colonial government expected this small navy to dominate the British Royal Navy, which was, at the time, the most formidable sea-going force in the world with 136 warships. However, the hope was that the colonists could disrupt British shipping, capture needed supplies, and provide a little protection for colonial merchant shipping. Despite its size, however, the Continental Navy took down British cargo ships and confiscated arms, ammunition, and other valuable materials later used to resupply General George Washington’s soldiers.

Once the Revolutionary War ended, the Navy, as the Naval History and Heritage Command recounts, “passed into disuse and oblivion. The Articles of Confederation, which came into force in 1781 and bound the colonies into a loose arrangement of sovereign states, did not provide the central government with powers of taxation sufficient” to grow and maintain a standing navy. Besides, there was peace in the colonies following the War of Independence.

The US Constitution Made the Navy Official

After the Articles of Confederation were replaced, however, the new Constitution made accommodations for a US Navy. The new governing text clearly spelled out that Congress would be empowered “To provide and maintain a Navy; To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces.” There would now be constitutionally established funds available. And so, America’s second Navy came into being.

Today, the US Navy is second to none. Though China does have more ships overall, it doesn’t have the power to project its will across the globe quite like America.

1. The Continental Navy – made up of merchant ships acting as privateers – was established shortly after the Revolutionary War began.
2. This early Navy was tiny compared to the British Royal Navy, which was, at the time, the largest in the world.
3. The Continental Navy didn’t last long after the Revolution ended – but the Constitution established the new US Navy, which is, today, the most powerful in the world.