9-15 MAY 1775 PINE TREE NAVAL ENSIGN Samuel Thompson was a Brunswick (modern Maine) tavern owner appointed to command the Brunswick Militia in 1774. The seeds of revolution were starting to sprout in New England in 1774, and Thompson was ordered Read More
29 APRIL 1777 INTERCEPTING THE SUGAR FLEET In the earliest days of our nation, the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress was not hesitant to give tactical direction to our naval forces afloat. On this day, the Committee instructed that an Read More
26 FEBRUARY 1775 LESLIE’S RETREAT The garrisoning of Royal troops in the private homes of Boston residents risked the discovery of weapons and munitions stores hidden by Patriot colonials. Such stores were secretly moved out of the city, prompting periodic expeditions Read More
20 DECEMBER 1776 THE INDOMITABLE LEXINGTON Many of the original thirteen colonies organized their own navies during the Revolutionary War. For example, in February of 1776 the Maryland Committee for Safety sent Abraham Van Bibber to St. Eustatius in the Dutch Read More
6 SEPTEMBER 1776 FIRST SUBMARINE The world’s first operational submarine was the brainchild of physician and inventor David Bushnell while a student at Yale College in 1771. During the 1775 British blockade of Boston, he and his brother Ezra gave the idea physical Read More
29 JUNE 1776 BATTLE OF TURTLE GUT INLET The six-gun civilian brig Nancy headed north from St. Thomas and St. Croix. Her Master, Hugh Montgomery, had shipped a cargo that would bring a handsome profit in his homeport of Philadelphia. Nancy Read More
9 DECEMBER 1775 THE BATTLE OF GREAT BRIDGE Modern sailors stationed in the Norfolk area may be familiar with Battlefield Boulevard and Great Bridge, whose story follows. GEN George Washington worried that the British might become lodged in Norfolk, Virginia. Then Read More
24-27 SEPTEMBER 1778 THE LOSS OF RALEIGH On December 13th, 1775, the Continental Congress issued our young nation’s first naval construction authorization, ordering that 13 frigates be built for the Continental Navy. Five of these were to be rated at 32 Read More
19 JULY-17 AUGUST 1779 SALTONSTALL AT PENOBSCOT Four hundred Continental and colonial Marines led the numerically superior American assault, clamoring up the cliff to within 600 yards of the fort. But here they came within range of the three small Read More
19 JULY-17 AUGUST 1779 PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION The land stretching northeast from the Kennebec River in modern Maine (location of Augusta) to New Brunswick was contested by France and England for a century. Then with the British victory in the French Read More