Sea Power andMaritime Affairs

Lesson 4: The American Revolution, 1775-1783, Part of a Larger Struggle

Learning Objectives• The student will comprehend the American Revolution

in the context of European politics and the regeneration of the struggle between Great Britain and France.

• The student will know (identify) the causes of the American Revolution

• Comprehend the uses of sea power in the American Revolution by the British and Americans.

• The student will know the course of the war and representative campaigns.

• The student will comprehend the relationship of military and naval policy, diplomacy, and strategy as demonstrated during the war.

Remember our Themes!

• The Navy as an Instrument of Foreign Policy

• Interaction between Congress and the Navy

• Interservice Relations• Technology• Leadership• Strategy and Tactics• Evolution of Naval Doctrine

More French Verbiage:• Guerre de course: commerce raiding

• predominant in 19th century

• Guerre d’escadre: squadron, ie., naval warfare (line formations)

• Since the revolution both traditions have competed with one another

European Political Context:• Results of the Seven Years’ War

- The Peace of Paris, 1763, was a “truce”, in effect, not a peace.

- G.B. (sea power) and France (land power) potential enemies

- Rivalry for Empire- N. America, W. Indies, Indian Ocean

- G.B. wants colonials to:• Pay costs of Seven Years’ War- G.B. finances seriously

depleted• Garrison soldiers• Accept Proclamation of 1763• Accept various oppressive acts (e.g., Townsen Act, Stamp

Act, Tea Act, etc.))

• Resulting Rebellion becomes a renewed Anglo-French War

The State of the Navies• Great Britain

• Permanent Fighting Instructions -- Formal Tactics• Limits ability of Admirals to concentrate fleet’s firepower.

• French Navy is rebuilt.• Superior construction, numbers, tactics, and training.• Defensive tactics of a land power versus a sea power.• Decline in number and condition of ships.

• Desire lee gage.• Targeting of British sails and masts.• French ship-building reaches its zenith

The Colonies Revolt:• American maritime heritage result of

colonial status• Resources: Ships, crews, raw materials,

British merchant fleet.• Advantages: Protection, Ready market

for goods, benefit of imperial trade.• Disadvantages: All trade supported

Britain, different national interests, no voice in policy, no trade outside of empire.

• Causes: resentment of empire policies, taxation to pay British debt, curtailment of W. expansion, no representation.

Colonial Status:ADVANTAGES:• Protection• Ready market for goods• Benefits of imperial trade.

DISADVANTAGES:• All trade supported Britain

• Less money for US!

• Different national interests• Americans would trade with anyone

• No voice in policy• No say in Parliament

• No trade outside of empire.• British set who colonies traded with

War of Revolution:• Great Britain

• Advantages• Large economy based on world empire.• Well established government - Constitutional Monarchy.• Professional Army• Large Royal Navy (Although challenged for supremacy by

French Navy.)• Disadvantages

• Long Lines of Communication• Fighting on “Foreign” Soil

• American Colonies• Advantages

• Fighting on “Home Turf”• Ready market of resources

• Disadvantages• Weak government: Continental Congress.• Economy designed to support Britain in mercantilist

system.• Disunity - Loyalists or Tories make up one third of

population.

• British• Command of the Sea

• Blockade American ports.• Transport troops to areas of rebellion (mobility).

• Hudson River Valley• Cut off New England from middle and southern

colonies.

• American• War of Attrition

• Wear down British forces.• Diplomacy

• Gain European allies with large navies - France.• Commerce Raiding

• Privateering

Naval Strategies:

Going It Alone (Prior to 1778):

The Need for an American Navy:• British control of sea lines of communication.

• Americans unable to oppose British troop movements.• British blockades of American ports restricts commerce.

• States authorize navies:• Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

• Privateering commences against British shipping and commerce.• Definition of Privateering: Privately-owned vessels

sanctioned by a government to seize enemy ships.• “Letter of Marque”

• Washington’s Navy• Seizure of gunpowder on British supply ships enroute to

Boston.• Ships commanded by Army officers with maritime

experience.

The Navy and Marine Corps are Born:

• Authorized by the Continental Congress.• 13 October 1775 - Navy Birthday

• Continental Congress approves purchase of two armed vessels.

• 10 November 1775 - Marine Corps Birthday• Continental Congress authorizes two battalions of Marines.• Samuel Nicholas - “First Commandant” of the Marine Corps

• Tun Tavern, Philadelphia

• 28 November 1775 - Rules for the Regulation of the Navy of the United Colonies established.

• December 1775 - Marine Committee appointed by Continental Congress to oversee naval affairs.

• Authorizes construction of 13 frigates.

• Debate continues over the need for naval forces:• Samuel Chase of Maryland: “Maddest idea in the

world.”

U.S. Navy Birthday:•13 October 1775

U.S. Marine Corps Birthday•10 November 1775

ContinentalMarines

Naval Stages / Milestones of the Revolutionary War:

• Washington’s Navy (April 1775 – March 1776)

• The Continental Navy (March 1776 – March 1777)

• Benedict Arnold’s Navy (Valcour Island – 11 October 1776)

• The States’ Navies (1777-1779)• In British Waters (February 1778-

September 1779)• Charleston (February-May 1780)• The Yorktown Campaign (August-

September 1781)• The Battle of the Capes (September 1781)

Major Naval Campaigns:• 1775: Siege of Boston, Campaign in Canada

• 1776: British Invasion of New York City, Lake

Champlain campaign (Battle of Valcour Island)

• 1777: Turning Point – Saratoga, Disaster at

Philadelphia

• 1778: Treaty with France / Arrival of Rochambeau

• 1779: d’Estaing and abortive attempt on NYC

• 1780: British Southern Campaign

• 1781: De Grasse to West Indies, Yorktown Campaign,

Battle of Virginia Capes

• 1782: Battle of Saints

• 1783: Treaty of Paris

Early Military Operations:• American Siege of Boston - 1775

• George Washington commands America’s Continental Army.

• Battle of Bunker Hill

• Royal Navy evacuates British forces to Halifax in 1776.

• American Invasion of Canada - 1775• Ethan Allen takes Fort Ticonderoga on Lake

Champlain.

• Siege of Quebec fails.

• General Benedict Arnold retreats to Lake Champlain - 1776.

• Small fleet of shallow-draft vessels built to stop British counter-attack.

First Navy Jack:Hoisted at the main mast by Continental Navy Commander

in Chief Esek Hopkins (3 December 1775)

American Raid on the Bahamas:• Esek Hopkins

• Commander in Chief of the Fleet -- converted merchantmen.

• Eventually dismissed in 1777.

• Ordered to break British blockade of the Virginia coast.

• Discretionary clause in orders allows Hopkins to change plans.

• Raid on New Providence Island, Bahamas - March 1776

• Storage area for British supplies of gunpowder and cannon.

• Sailors and Marines under Samuel Nicholas capture supplies and transport back to colonies.

Continental Navy:• Raid on

Bahamas

• Many frigates captured in port by British.

Continental Navy:• Inferior naval power.

• Unable to build enough ships to challenge British command of the sea.

• Had to rely on French Navy for command of the sea.

• Commerce Raiding against British shipping.

• Effectiveness improved after French Navy forced Royal Navy to concentrate their ships into fleets.

. New York City

. Quebec

Montreal .

Hudson River Valley and Lake Champlain:

- Main invasion route between Canada and New York

. Boston

General Washington – 1776:• Defense of New York from British

invasion.

• Prevent British from dividing the colonies.

• Continental Army defeated and forced to retreat toward Philadelphia.

• Washington crosses the Delaware.

• Trenton

• Princeton

• Continental Army remains a threat to the British.

Washington Crossing the Delaware

Battle of Valcour Island:• British counter-attack across Lake

Champlain to reach New York.

• British required to construct a fleet to counter Benedict Arnold’s fleet and secure lines of communication on the lake.

• Benedict Arnold loses all 15 of his ships.

• Tactical — Failure

• Battle delays British invasion - forces their withdrawal to Canada for winter months.

• Strategic — Victory

(11 October 1776)

Battle of Valcour Island:

Battle of Saratoga:• Americans defeat and capture General

“Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne in upstate New York.

• Turning point of the war.• French enter the war as America’s ally.

• French Navy: 80 ships of the line.• Small American rebellion becomes a major

world war.

• Great Britain faces multiple enemies:• 1775 American Colonies• 1778 France and Spain• 1780 Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Prussia,

Austria, and Portugal form an Armed Neutrality.

Surrender of General BurgoyneSaratoga, New York – 17 October 1777

A French Ally and a Global War (1778-1783):

Fleet Actions:• “General Chase” melee tactics used

unsuccessfully by Royal Navy against the French.• Battle of Ushant • Battle of Grenada• Moonlight Battle off Cape St Vincent

• New view of some British admirals:• No need to strictly adhere to the formal tactics

found in the Permanent Fighting Instructions.• Admirals now allowed more freedom of action.

• Franco-Spanish invasion of Britain planned.• Admiral Rodney develops copper sheathing to

prevent fouling of ships’ hulls.

Commerce Raiding:• Capture enemy shipping using Navy ships or

Privateers.• Privateering very profitable - easy to find sailors.• Difficult to man Continental Navy ships.

• Gustavus Conyngham - Irish American• Captured 60 British vessels in 18 months.• Successfully dug way out of prison on 3rd attempt

after capture in 1779.

• Lambert Wickes and Reprisal• 1st American ship in European Waters (1777) captures

23 ships.• Transports Benjamin Franklin to France.

• John Paul Jones• Receives first salute to an American ship from French

Navy.

John Paul Jones,“Father of the U.S. Navy”

“Men mean more than guns in the rating of a ship.”

“I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast for I intend to go in harm’s way.”

(16 November 1778)

Battle of Flamborough Head:

- 4 Sept 1778 Bonhomme Richard vs. Serapis-John Paul Jones: “I have not yet begun to fight.”

Battle of Flamborough Head

Battle of Battle of Flamborough HeadFlamborough Head

John Paul Jones

“Without a respectable Navy - alas America!”

Yorktown CampaignAugust-October

1781

Battle of the Virginia Capes:• Initially poor cooperation between Continental Army

and French Navy.• General Washington - need a combined operation

for victory.• 1781 Lord Cornwallis leads British Army to Yorktown.

• Washington marches south with Continental and French troops.

• French West Indies fleet sails north under de Grasse.• British fleet under Graves: Reinforce or evacuate

Cornwallis.• de Grasse anchors inside the Chesapeake then

sorties and defeats British fleet.• Hood rigidly adheres to Permanent Fighting

Instructions. • Lord Cornwallis forced to surrender forces at

Yorktown.

Battleof the

VirginiaCapes

5 September 1871

Battle of the Saints:• Battle of the Saints - 1782

• French fleets combines with Spanish ships in an attempt to capture British colonies in the West Indies.

• British fleet “Breaks the Line” of the French but fails to continue the battle.

British Technological Improvements:

• Cannonades• Sir Charles Douglas

• “wedges”• Better recoil• no more “worming”

Battleof theSaints

12 April 1782

Naval Policy:

British Naval Policy:• Superiority over Continental Navy.

• Royal Navy used to transport Army troops in America.

• Blockade of American ports established.

• Challenged by French Navy after 1778.• Improvements in gunnery made after

defeat at the Battle of the Virginia Capes.• Permanent Fighting Instructions finally

abandoned.• New system of signals allows more freedom for

admirals to maneuver fleet to concentrate firepower.

• Change in tactics from Formal to Melee.

• Maintained naval power at the end of the war.

Colonial Naval Policy:• Sectionalism

• Continental Navy• State Navies• Privateers

• New Providence Expedition• Penobscot expedition• Commerce Raiders• French Contribution

Conclusion of the War:• Combined French/Spanish attack on

Gibraltar defeated in 1782.

• French and British fleets battle for control of India.

• Treaty of Paris - 1783• Independence of American colonies.• France restores most of Great Britain’s

West Indian colonies.

AND NOW…

We are actuallygoing to

USEthe learning objectives!

Learning Objectives:• The student will comprehend the American

Revolution in the context of European politics and the regeneration of the struggle between Great Britain and France.

• The student will know (identify) the causes of the American Revolution

• Comprehend the uses of sea power in the American Revolution by the British and Americans.

• The student will know the course of the war and representative campaigns.

• The student will comprehend the relationship of military and naval policy, diplomacy, and strategy as demonstrated during the war.

Questions & Discussion:

Next time:The U.S. Navy in the Napoleonic Era, 1783-1815

Reading for Next Class:• Hagan:• Potter:

“If fear is cultivated, it will become stronger. If faith is cultivated, it will achieve mastery.” -John Paul Jones