An Audacious Gamble

This date marks the founding of one of the more audacious gambles in naval history.

European powers had long relied on privateers, but by 1775, they'd also begun building legitimate, powerful navies.

But the American colonies had neither a navy nor money.

They had a ragtag army, an empty treasury, and the British Royal Navy controlling the Atlantic.

Every supply ship at their mercy.

The Continental Army needed supplies.

So in June 1775, Rhode Island proposed building a fleet.

Congress laughed.

One delegate called it the maddest idea in the world.

John Adams himself called it a mad project.

An infant taking a mad bull by the horns.

But two months later, Congress approved the purchase of two sloops.

Two.

Manned by untrained sailors, armed with whatever cannons they could pry from merchant vessels, sailing into war against the most powerful navy on earth.

They had no shipyards, no supply chain, no doctrine.

They had borrowed ships, painted on some flags, and hoped very hard.

But on October 13th, 1775, the Continental Navy was born, and from two sloops and a whole lot of hope would eventually emerge one of my favorite military branches, even if they hadn't found my boat after Hurricane Milton.