The U.S. Navy in the 18th Century Quiz

Answer: 13 October 1775

On 13 October 1775, the Second Continental Congress voted for two vessels to be armed and manned and sent out on a cruise of three months to intercept British shipping, thus giving birth to the Continental Navy. The ships were each armed with ten carriage guns and crewed by 80 men.

Answer: Hannah

Hannah was outfitted with four guns and a crew under the command of Nicholas Broughton. After seeing action in September 1775, she was run aground by a British ship in October and eventually decommissioned.

Answer: Andrew Doria

The ship was named after Admiral Andrew Doria from Genoa, Italy. The Andrew Doria was first captained by Nicholas Biddle. With her two sister ships, the Alfred and the Cabot, she formed a squadron under the command of Commodore Esek Hopkins to patrol the coastal waters in search of enemy ships.

The Andrew Doria had a storied career until she was ordered burned to avoid capture in November 1777. In 1956 an Italian luxury cruise liner named SS Andria Doria collided with the Swedish passenger liner MS Stockholm, and sunk.

Answer: John Paul Jones

Jones is better known for his reply to the commander of HMS Serapis: "I have not yet begun to fight." He was born in Scotland but moved to Virginia at an early age. He later volunteered for the Navy, where he raised the Continental ensign on the flagship in the Navy's first fleet.

Answer: Spain

The Spanish Navy along with the French Navy significantly augmented the Continental Navy. More importantly the addition of the Spanish Navy forced Britain to keep some ships of the line in home waters in case of a Spanish-Franco attack on Great Britain.

Answer: USS United States

The USS Constitution is the oldest ship still afloat. She can be seen in Boston. The USS Constellation was named in honor of the new constellation of the stars on the U.S. flag. There have been three USS Constellations. The latest is a supercarrier (CV-64). The USS United States was seized by the Confederate Navy in 1861 while in port at Norfolk and scuttled soon thereafter.

Answer: Esek Hopkins

Hopkins was appointed Commander by the Naval Committee of the Continental Congress (Hopkins' brother Stephen was a member of the Naval Committee). Hopkins was the only Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Navy fleet during the Revolutionary War. The fleet consisted of eight merchant ships converted to men-of-war.

The fleet attacked a British garrison at Nassau and seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition, along with two ships, but failed to capture the third. Hopkins received harsh criticism for his failure to capture the third British ship and he was also accused of disobedience to orders.

He was defended by John Adams, but was nonetheless censured by Congress, suspended, and was dismissed from the Navy on January 2,1778.

Answer: Charleston, SC

The unconditional surrender by General Lincoln to British General Henry Clinton was America's worst defeat of the Revolutionary War. The frigates USS Boston, USS Providence and USS Ranger were captured.

Answer: USS America

The USS America was the first ship of the line built for the U.S. Navy, but she never saw action. She was lightly armed in comparison to other French ships. Approximately 3 years later she was found to have dry rot and was destroyed.

Answer: Benjamin Stoddert

Benjamin Stoddert was nominated by President John Adams to become the Nation's first Secretary of the Navy. In that post, he guided the Navy through the undeclared war with France and achieved a significant expansion in the United States' naval strength.