1.
Battle of Valcour Island
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The naval Battle of Valcour Island, also known as the Battle of Valcour Bay, took place on October 11,1776, on Lake Champlain. The main action took place in Valcour Bay, a strait between the New York mainland and Valcour Island. The battle is regarded as one of the first naval battles of the American Revolutionary War. Most of the ships in the American fleet under the command of Benedict Arnold were captured or destroyed by a British force under the direction of General Guy Carleton. However, the American defense of Lake Champlain stalled British plans to reach the upper Hudson River valley, the Continental Army had retreated from Quebec to Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point in June 1776 after British forces were massively reinforced. They spent the summer of 1776 fortifying those forts, and building ships to augment the small American fleet already on the lake. General Carleton had a 9,000 man army at Fort Saint-Jean, the Americans, during their retreat, had either taken or destroyed most of the ships on the lake. By early October, the British fleet, which significantly outgunned the American fleet, was ready for launch, on October 11, Arnold drew the British fleet to a position he had carefully chosen to limit their advantages. In the battle followed, many of the American ships were damaged or destroyed. That night, Arnold sneaked the American fleet past the British one, beginning a retreat toward Crown Point, unfavorable weather hampered the American retreat, and more of the fleet was either captured or grounded and burned before it could reach Crown Point. Upon reaching Crown Point Arnold had the buildings burned and retreated to Ticonderoga. The British fleet included four officers who later became admirals in the Royal Navy, Thomas Pringle, James Dacres, Edward Pellew and John Schank. Valcour Bay, the site of the battle, is now a National Historic Landmark, as is Philadelphia, which shortly after the October 11 battle. The underwater site of Spitfire, located in 1997, is on the National Register of Historic Places, the province was viewed by the Second Continental Congress as a potential avenue for British forces to attack and divide the rebellious colonies, and was at the time lightly defended. The invasion reached a peak on December 31,1775, when the Battle of Quebec ended in disaster for the Americans. In the spring of 1776,10,000 British and German troops arrived in Quebec, and General Guy Carleton, Carleton then launched his own offensive intended to reach the Hudson River, whose navigable length begins south of Lake Champlain and extends down to New York City. Control of the upper Hudson would enable the British to link their forces in Quebec with those in New York and this strategy would separate the American colonies of New England from those farther south and potentially quash the rebellion. Lake Champlain, a long and relatively narrow lake formed by the action of glaciers during the last ice age and its 120-mile length and 12-mile maximum width creates more than 550 miles of shoreline, with many bays, inlets and promontories
2.
Galley
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A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by rowing. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used in favorable winds, but human strength was always the primary method of propulsion. This allowed galleys to navigate independently of winds and currents, Galleys were the warships used by the early Mediterranean naval powers, including the Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans. They remained the dominant types of vessels used for war and piracy in the Mediterranean Sea until the last decades of the 16th century and they were the first ships to effectively use heavy cannons as anti-ship weapons. As highly efficient gun platforms they forced changes in the design of medieval seaside fortresses as well as refinement of sailing warships. The zenith of galley usage in warfare came in the late 16th century with battles like that at Lepanto in 1571, by the 17th century, however, sailing ships and hybrid ships like the xebec displaced galleys in naval warfare. From the mid-16th century galleys were in intermittent use in the Baltic Sea, with its short distances, there was a minor revival of galley warfare in the 18th century in the wars between Russia, Sweden and Denmark. The term galley derives from the medieval Greek galea, a version of the dromon. The origin of the Greek word is unclear but could possibly be related to galeos, the word galley has been attested in English from c. It was only from the 16th century that a unified galley concept came in use, before that, particularly in antiquity, there was a wide variety of terms used for different types of galleys. Ancient galleys were named according to the number of oars, the number of banks of oars or lines of rowers, the terms are based on contemporary language use combined with more recent compounds of Greek and Latin words. The earliest Greek single-banked galleys are called triaconters and penteconters, for later galleys with more than one row of oars, the terminology is based on Latin numerals with the suffix -reme from rēmus, oar. A monoreme has one bank of oars, a two and a trireme three. Since the maximum banks of oars was three, any expansion above that did not refer to additional banks of oars, but of additional rowers for every oar. Quinquereme was literally a five-oar, but actually meant that there were several rowers to certain banks of oars which made up five lines of oar handlers, for simplicity, they have by many modern scholars been referred to as fives, sixes, eights, elevens, etc. Anything above six or seven rows of rowers was not common, any galley with more than three or four lines of rowers is often referred to as a polyreme. Oared military vessels built on the British Isles in the 11th to 13th centuries were based on Scandinavian designs, many of them were similar to birlinns, close relatives of longship types like the snekkja. By the 14th century, they were replaced with balingers in southern Britain while longship-type Irish galleys remained in use throughout the Middle Ages in northern Britain, Medieval and early modern galleys used a different terminology than their ancient predecessors
3.
American Revolution
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The British responded by imposing punitive laws on Massachusetts in 1774 known as the Coercive Acts, following which Patriots in the other colonies rallied behind Massachusetts. Tensions escalated to the outbreak of fighting between Patriot militia and British regulars at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the conflict then developed into a global war, during which the Patriots fought the British and Loyalists in what became known as the American Revolutionary War. The Continental Congress determined King George IIIs rule to be tyrannical and infringing the rights as Englishmen. The Patriot leadership professed the political philosophies of liberalism and republicanism to reject monarchy and aristocracy, Congress rejected British proposals requiring allegiance to the monarchy and abandonment of independence. The British were forced out of Boston in 1776, but then captured and they blockaded the ports and captured other cities for brief periods, but failed to defeat Washingtons forces. After a failed Patriot invasion of Canada, a British army was captured at the Battle of Saratoga in late 1777, a combined American–French force captured a second British army at Yorktown in 1781, effectively ending the war in the United States. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 formally ended the conflict, confirming the new nations complete separation from the British Empire. The United States took possession of all the territory east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes, with the British retaining control of Canada. Among the significant results of the revolution was the creation of a new Constitution of the United States. Historians typically begin their histories of the American Revolution with the British victory in the French and Indian War in 1763, the lands west of Quebec and west of a line running along the crest of the Allegheny mountains became Indian territory, temporarily barred to settlement. For the prior history, see Thirteen Colonies, in 1764, Parliament passed the Currency Act to restrain the use of paper money which British merchants saw as a means to evade debt payments. Parliament also passed the Sugar Act, imposing customs duties on a number of articles, none did and Parliament passed the Stamp Act in March 1765 which imposed direct taxes on the colonies for the first time. All official documents, newspapers, almanacs, and pamphlets—even decks of playing cards—were required to have the stamps, the colonists did not object that the taxes were high, but because they had no representation in the Parliament. Benjamin Franklin testified in Parliament in 1766 that Americans already contributed heavily to the defense of the Empire, stationing a standing army in Great Britain during peacetime was politically unacceptable. London had to deal with 1,500 politically well-connected British officers who became redundant, in 1765, the Sons of Liberty formed. They used public demonstrations, boycott, violence, and threats of violence to ensure that the British tax laws were unenforceable, in Boston, the Sons of Liberty burned the records of the vice admiralty court and looted the home of chief justice Thomas Hutchinson. Several legislatures called for united action, and nine colonies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress in New York City in October 1765, moderates led by John Dickinson drew up a Declaration of Rights and Grievances stating that taxes passed without representation violated their rights as Englishmen. Colonists emphasized their determination by boycotting imports of British merchandise, the Parliament at Westminster saw itself as the supreme lawmaking authority throughout all British possessions and thus entitled to levy any tax without colonial approval
4.
American Civil War
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The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
5.
Union Navy
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The Union Navy was the United States Navy during the American Civil War, when it fought the Confederate States Navy. The term is sometimes used carelessly to include vessels of war used on the rivers of the interior while they were under the control of the United States Army, the Confederates saw the U. S. as being opposed to slavery and thus, referred to them as abolitionists. Accordingly, the U. S. Navy was termed by them as being the Abolition fleet, the primary missions of the Union Navy were,1. Maintain the blockade of Confederate ports by restraining all blockade runners, declared by the President on April 19,1861, meet in combat the war vessels of the CSN. Carry the war to places in the states that were inaccessible to the Union Army. Support the Army by providing gunfire support and rapid transport and communications on the rivers of the interior. To accomplish these, the Union Navy had to undergo a profound transformation, during the war, sailing vessels were completely supplanted by ships propelled by steam for purposes of combat. Vessels of widely differing character were built from the keel up in response to problems they would encounter. Wooden hulls were at first protected by armor plating, and soon were replaced by iron or steel throughout, the institutional changes that were introduced during the war were equally significant. The Bureau of Steam Engineering was added to the bureau system, testimony to the U. S. Navys conversion from sail to steam. Most important from the standpoint of Army-Navy cooperation in joint operations, the establishment of the ranks of admirals implied also a change of naval doctrine, from one favoring single-ship operations to that of employing whole fleets. At the start of the war, the Union Navy had 42 ships in commission, another 48 were laid up and listed as available for service as soon as crews could be assembled and trained, but few were appropriate for the task at hand. Most were sailing vessels, some were hopelessly outdated, and one served on Lake Erie, during the course of the war, the number in commission was increased by more than a factor 15, so that at the end the U. S. Navy had 671 vessels. Even more significant than the increase in raw numbers was the variety of types that were represented. To confront the forms of combat that came about, the government developed a new type of warship. The U. S. Navy took over a class of armored river gunboats created for the U. S. Army, but designed by naval personnel, so-called double-enders were produced to maneuver in the confined waters of the rivers and harbors. The Union Navy experimented with submarines before the Confederacy produced its famed CSS Hunley, accordingly, at the end of the war, most of them were soon stricken from the service rather than being mothballed. The number of ships at sea fell back to its prewar level, the highest rank available to an American naval officer when the war began was that of captain
6.
Confederate States Navy
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The Navy of the Confederate States was the naval branch of the Confederate States Armed Forces, established by an act of the Confederate Congress on February 21,1861. It was responsible for Confederate naval operations during the American Civil War, the Confederate navy could never achieve numerical equality with the U. S. Navy, so it used technological innovation, such as ironclads, submarines, torpedo boats, and naval mines to gain advantage. In February 1861 the Confederate Navy had 30 vessels, only 14 of which were seaworthy, the Union Navy had 90 vessels. The C. S. Navy eventually grew to 101 ships to meet the rise in naval threats and conflicts, on April 20,1861 the U. S. was forced to quickly abandon the important Gosport Navy Yard at Norfolk, Virginia. In their haste they failed to burn the facility with its large depots of arms and other supplies. As a result, the Confederacy captured much needed war materials, including cannon, gunpowder, shot. Of most importance to the Confederacy was the dry docks. The Confederacys only substantial navy yard with at time was in Pensacola, Florida. The most significant warship left at the Yard was the screw frigate USS Merrimack, the U. S. Navy had torched Merrimacks superstructure and upper deck, then scuttled the vessel, it would have been immediately useful as a warship to their enemy. Little of the structure remained other than the hull, which was holed by the scuttling charge. Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory had the idea to raise Merrimack, when the hull was raised, it had not been submerged long enough to have been rendered unusable, the steam engines and essential machinery were salvageable. The decks were rebuilt using thick oak and pine planking, the newly rebuilt superstructure was unusual, above the waterline the sides sloped inward and were covered with two layers of heavy iron-plate armor. The vessel was a new kind of warship, an all-steam powered iron-clad, in the centuries-old tradition of reusing captured ships, the new ship was christened CSS Virginia. She later fought the Unions new ironclad USS Monitor, on the second day of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the two ships met and each scored numerous hits on the other. After four hours both ships were taking in water through split seams and breaches by enemy shot, the engines of both were becoming dangerously overtaxed, and their crews were near exhaustion. The two ships turned and steamed away, never to meet again, the last Confederate surrender took place in Liverpool, United Kingdom on November 6,1865 aboard the commerce raider CSS Shenandoah when her flag was lowered for the final time. This surrender brought about the end of the Confederate navy, the Shenandoah had circumnavigated the globe, the only Confederate ship to do so. The act of the Confederate Congress that created the Confederate Navy on February 21,1861 also appointed Stephen Mallory as Secretary of the Department of the Navy
7.
United States Navy
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The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U. S. Navy is the largest, most capable navy in the world, the U. S. Navy has the worlds largest aircraft carrier fleet, with ten in service, two in the reserve fleet, and three new carriers under construction. The service has 323,792 personnel on duty and 108,515 in the Navy Reserve. It has 274 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of October 2016, the U. S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy, which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter. It played a role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy. It played the role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan. The 21st century U. S. Navy maintains a global presence, deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific, the Mediterranean. The Navy is administratively managed by the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Navy is itself a division of the Department of Defense, which is headed by the Secretary of Defense. The Chief of Naval Operations is an admiral and the senior naval officer of the Department of the Navy. The CNO may not be the highest ranking officer in the armed forces if the Chairman or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission of the Navy is to maintain, train and equip combat-ready Naval forces capable of winning wars, deterring aggression, the United States Navy is a seaborne branch of the military of the United States. The Navys three primary areas of responsibility, The preparation of naval forces necessary for the prosecution of war. The development of aircraft, weapons, tactics, technique, organization, U. S. Navy training manuals state that the mission of the U. S. Armed Forces is to prepare and conduct prompt and sustained combat operations in support of the national interest, as part of that establishment, the U. S. Navys functions comprise sea control, power projection and nuclear deterrence, in addition to sealift duties. It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that without a decisive naval force we can do nothing definitive, the Navy was rooted in the colonial seafaring tradition, which produced a large community of sailors, captains, and shipbuilders. In the early stages of the American Revolutionary War, Massachusetts had its own Massachusetts Naval Militia, the establishment of a national navy was an issue of debate among the members of the Second Continental Congress. Supporters argued that a navy would protect shipping, defend the coast, detractors countered that challenging the British Royal Navy, then the worlds preeminent naval power, was a foolish undertaking. Commander in Chief George Washington resolved the debate when he commissioned the ocean-going schooner USS Hannah to interdict British merchant ships, and reported the captures to the Congress
8.
Warship
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A warship is a naval ship that is built and primarily intended for naval warfare. Usually they belong to the forces of a state. As well as being armed, warships are designed to damage and are usually faster. Unlike a merchant ship, which carries cargo, a warship typically carries weapons, ammunition. Warships usually belong to a navy, though they have also operated by individuals, cooperatives. In wartime, the distinction between warships and merchant ships is often blurred, in war, merchant ships are often armed and used as auxiliary warships, such as the Q-ships of the First World War and the armed merchant cruisers of the Second World War. Until the 17th century it was common for merchant ships to be pressed into naval service, until the threat of piracy subsided in the 19th century, it was normal practice to arm larger merchant ships such as galleons. Warships have also often used as troop carriers or supply ships. The development of catapults in the 4th century BC and the subsequent refinement of technology enabled the first fleets of artillery-equipped warships by the Hellenistic age. During late antiquity, ramming fell out of use and the galley tactics against other ships used during the Middle Ages until the late 16th century focused on boarding. Naval artillery was redeveloped in the 14th century, but cannon did not become common at sea until the guns were capable of being reloaded quickly enough to be reused in the same battle. The size of a required to carry a large number of cannons made oar-based propulsion impossible. The sailing man-of-war emerged during the 16th century, by the middle of the 17th century, warships were carrying increasing numbers of cannon on their broadsides and tactics evolved to bring each ships firepower to bear in a line of battle. The man-of-war now evolved into the ship of the line, in the 18th century, the frigate and sloop-of-war – too small to stand in the line of battle – evolved to convoy trade, scout for enemy ships and blockade enemy coasts. During the 19th century a revolution took place in the means of propulsion, naval armament. Marine steam engines were introduced, at first as an auxiliary force, the Crimean War gave a great stimulus to the development of guns. The introduction of explosive shells soon led to the introduction of iron, the first ironclad warships, the French Gloire and British Warrior, made wooden vessels obsolete. Metal soon entirely replaced wood as the material for warship construction
9.
Age of Sail
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This is a significant period during which square-rigged sailing ships carried European colonizers to many parts of the world in one of the most expansive human migrations in recorded history. Like most periodic eras the definition is inexact but close enough to serve as a general description, the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869, was impractical for sailing ships, and made steamboats faster on the European-Asian sea route. Sailing ships continued to be a way to transport cargo on long voyages into the 1920s. Sailing ships do not require fuel or complex engines to be powered, crucially though, steam-powered ships held a speed advantage and were rarely hindered by adverse winds, freeing steam-powered vessels from the necessity of following trade winds. As a result, cargo and supplies could reach a port in half the time it took a sailing ship. It is this factor that drove sailing ships aside, Sailing vessels were pushed into narrower and narrower economic niches and gradually disappeared from commercial trade. Today, sailing vessels are only viable for small scale coastal fishing, along with recreational uses such as yachting. Nautical portal Age of Discovery Columbian Exchange Maritime timeline Naval history Sailing ship tactics Sea lane
10.
USS Washington (1776 row galley)
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USS Washington was a large row galley, with a rowing crew of 60, that was placed into service under the control of the Continental Congress in 1776. During this age of sail, row galleys were highly maneuverable compared to sailing ships whose movements were dependent on the wind. Washingtons war record consisted of an attack on several British warships, and, after finding itself on the side of the battle. There is no report of her efforts for the Continental Navy. In the autumn of 1775, the Rhode Island General Assembly ordered the construction of two row galleys, Washington and Spitfire, and in January 1776 appointed John Grimes commodore of galleys. During the winter and spring of 1776, these operated in Narragansett Bay, protecting the colonys shipping, carrying troops. And that Ambrose Page, Esq. be the person for the purpose, and that he be empowered to draw out of the general treasury. In October following, Ambrose Page, Esq, in July, the galleys were sent to New York City to join the tiny flotilla George Washington was fitting out on the Hudson River and apparently came under Continental control. On the afternoon of 3 August, Washington served as flagship for Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Tupper as that led an attack on the Royal Navys warships Phoenix. As the galleys approached, Phoenix opened fire on the American boats to begin an action at grapeshot range which lasted two hours before the Americans retired to Dobbs Ferry. During the engagement, four Americans were killed, and 14 others were wounded, on the British side, Phoenix was hulled twice and suffered substantial damage. There is no record of Washington and her sister galleys after the British captured Manhattan Island late in the summer and this article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here
