Course Details

When the Revolutionary War began, America had no navy. By 1777, the Continental Navy created by Congress had only 34 cruisers and by 1782 the number had dwindled to seven. Privateers were commissioned by Congress to augment this deficiency and before the war’s end, tens of thousands of men and hundreds of privateer ships had pursued an enemy which had the most powerful navy in the world. These American privateers sank or captured 2,283 enemy vessels, compared to the Continental Navy, which captured or destroyed 196 enemy vessels in total. The cost was great and more American privateers died fighting the British Navy than American soldiers fighting the British Army in the land war. This course will trace this naval war from beginning to end.