The Continental Navy

                Starting in 1775, during the American Revolution, John Adams decided to help establish a navy for the US. He decided to do it because Britain had the best navy in the world and America didn’t have a navy at all. They named it the Continental Navy.

          On December 22, 1775, Congress chose Esek Hopins to be commander in chief of the brand new Continental Navy. The Alfred, Columbus, Andrew Doria, and the Cabot were the first ships of the navy.

          Before the American flag was made, the Continental Navy’s flag was a flag that had red and white stripes. In front of the stripes was a rattlesnake and the words,” Don’t tread on me.”

The Continental Navy mainly sunk and captured British merchant ships and brought the items to the American army. In this way, the British army didn’t get the items they needed.

          The Continental Navy was a small navy. It only had about 27 ships against the 200 British ships. But it was a strong navy. Only 11 of the 27 ships were sunk or captured, but 200 British merchant ships were either sunk or captured.