U.S Navy in early American history - Essay Example

? Jonathan Kyle Eckman 26th Nov, US Navy In Early American History. The US had the strongest military in the world and thatstatus has been retained up to now. This would not have been achieved without the well structured naval forces. It awarded the US Navy global recognition. Every body wanted to understand how the navy was organized. The US Navy had two chief wings. The one formed in the last forty two years which was named the Old Navy. In addition, there was the second wing formed after hundred and ten years later. Despite the fact the Old Navy was ultra sized; it had the most sophisticated warships in the world. It presented a platform to the modernization of the Navy. The Status and existence of the Rhode Island was prioritized by the US government. Therefore the creation of the navy was billed and passed by Parliament of the Rhode Island in seventeen seventy seven in Greenwich (East). It should be noted that these events took place after the military hierarchy promotion of Captain Abraham Whipple in to an Army General. Governor Nicholas Cooke issued a confirmation to this. It was a defense move against the Frigates from Britain who posed a constant threat to the trade activities in Rhode Island. It was so serious that President George Washington begun buying warships using his own resources. The Schooner Hannah was one of the ships. The Continental Congress endorsed the buying of two ships that were well armed to attack the ships from their enemies like British for this matter. There was to be the existing policy that was to be adhered to by the continental fleet that was to reign throughout the Revolution. The first policy was written by John Adams which was accepted by the congress. Towards the end of 1775, the Congress ordered the putting up of thirteen frigates in the following a quarter a year, putting into account the resolution that was passed earlier on. Also, there was building of five ships that have two and two thirds dozens of guns, five ships with two and a quarter dozens guns, and three ships with two dozens of guns. A dozen ships that were build under the order of Benedict Arnold to prevent the British from attacking New York after Canada. This Arnold’s fleet did not manage that of British whereas the fleet which brought the British fleet was the U.S fleet in the war called Battle of Valcour Island. Later on, the ships vessels that were constructed were overpowered by the Royal Navy, which was more powerful than them. The only American hero in the navy who defeated the British fleet was John Paul Jones, who was Thought to have attacked other ships by their owners and when asked he put it boldly that the fight had not yet began. There took place the Revolutionary War which its end resulted into the break up the Navy of the continent in 1785, after the approval of Treaty of Paris. It is the Treaty of Paris that kept British Navy to work together with the ship trading and their support ended after the dispersing of the continental navy. The war between the American marine trade transporters and their attackers at the coast led to the Naval Act 1794. There was order that the Act should have the six frigates as one of its composition. the frigates comprised of four with three ant two thirds dozens of guns and two having three dozens of guns. The Navy then allied with the northern states and the coastal part and their enemies came from the interior parts. The establishment of the Naval Act led to the start of building a half a dozen frigates, namely: USS United States Chesapeake, Constitution, Constellation, USS United States, the congress and the president. The most popular of all was Constitution that was branded a name “Old Ironsides” with a lot of input from Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. The American Navy later fought the Navy from France in The Quasi-war as a result of Treaty of Alliance formed in 1778. The US played in away that it supported British and French equally in their fight but after the formation of the treaty referred to as Jay Treaty became its enemy. John Adams was appointed the new president and he put hands together with the Congress to complete the three frigates that were not completed. Adam’s efforts were also geared towards retaining the treaty between them. This treaty became the trick that made U.S to engage in a war with France and later on the formation of Department of Navy by the War Department. The U.S defeated France in this war a year later. After this successful fight for Americans, a period of peace for the navy Was declared and the six frigates had been completed together with others. Since Americans had issues with other violent countries, Tripoli navy wedged war against them, and this led to First Barbarian War that took place between United States and the Northwest African Berber Muslim countries. The American’s registered victory and a peace treaty were signed. Due to inadequate funds, the navy constructed the gunboats rather than the required ships and this made the operation difficult for ten years. There was a need to deliver the traders’ ships at the coast from the invasions. Thomas Jefferson, U.S minister to France sought to take the troop to Morocco and Algeria to employ other treaties and also get the enslaved freed. Due to the strength of the Constitution, the navy defeated Brazil, Macedonian, and fifteen tradesmen of British navy, though they were defeated by Britain in the Battle of Valpraiso. During the year eighteen thirteen, Captain James Lawrence together with the Frigate USS Chesapeake was taken in to captivity by the British HMS Shannon which was under the command of Captain Sr. Philip Broke. Twelve months down the line another British offensive was launched against the frigates. The British navy subdued the frigates easily. This was characterized by demolition of American warships. Forty four gun frigates were not spared either. But despite this defeat, the Americans never gave up. The fighting never stopped until the Americans defeated the British Navy in battles named Battle of Lake Champlain and the Battle of Lake Erie. Consequently, the British were driven away out of the Great Lakes. The frigate USS President was arrested in four days later when the treaty of Ghent was endorsed. On the other hand, the American’s again registered another defeat when the Constitution was held into captive by the British navies, HMS Levant and Cvane. There rose a need for the development of the navy after the previous war. There was then financial stability and the navy continued with the building of the ships that were large in number. The peace was maintained for about thirty years and during this period, the unfinished work of building ships was accomplished. Also during this period, the steam power and shell guns were. The employment for the native- Americans and black Africans was hard and only foreign- born men were allowed in the navy because these others were considered the abandoned or the inmates who tried to run away from the penalty. A number of men moved with their ships from Boston Harbor, but out of this number of men, only 3% of them were trained. They recorded low numbers of the recruits which forced the navy to go as far as breaking the rules by recruiting those not considered illegible. It was noted that during World War, U.S navy had a number of weaknesses that led to its frequent defeat. The navy was of less power than there enemies. Slave trade was another major contributing factor to the ineffectiveness of the U.S navy. The threat against this activity was raised by African squadron in 1820. A Naval Academy was started but there was a notably poor training of the navy officers. Due to this, the Secretary of the Navy, George Bancroft, established another academy that trained the officers. Bancroft and Commodore Perry formed a board that aimed at providing a better way of training the navy officers. This Academy was later recognized as United States Naval Academy. Between 1836 and 1842, there cropped the war between the navy and the Second Seminole War after the employment of the sailors and marines. This led to the formation of “A mosquito fleet” that was a combination of the navy and Army that were from low scale craft transport, but the fleet was defeated. The Mexican- American War which took place from 1845 and lasted for three years was the main battle carried out by the navy. Between 1861 and 1865, the American Civil War took place. The commanding general of the U.S. Army by the name Winfield Scott devised a method of fighting the war effectively and the known as Anaconda Plan. But the plan could not be implemented since an urgent invasion was needed. The ironclads were introduced which performed successfully at the beginning but with time it lost its strength that led to the ineffectiveness of the navy. The union armies were affected by the poor economy at the south, shortage of food, poor state of southern roads, lose of water in major rivers. The fall of the navy began in 1865 and ended in 1882. The Congress saw it expensive to revive the reduced resources and this made them not ready for the war again. The formation of the New Navy from eighteen eighty two came after. Modern ships were built to advance the navy capability. The three ships namely: USS Atlanta USS Chicago, USS Boston and protected cruisers were ordered to be built by the Congress. Also a vessel for dispatching known as USS Dolphin was built. These were confirmed to be the best ships than ever and these made the Americans appear well armed to face their opponents like Caribbean, Hawaii and the Pacific. The U.S secretary, Benjamin F. Tracy, was motivated by the principle referred to as Manifest Destiny, from a book authored by Alfred Thayer Mahan. His suggestion that the US navy must be strengthened by building over two hundred warships was unwelcomed by the congress. They debated against it. However, US Navy secretary got a consolation from the congress after the latter confirmed the putting up of other ships. These were: USS Massachusetts, USS Oregon and USS Indiana. Consequently, another ship known as USS Iowa was constructed. The US Navy marked a remarkable improvement as it shifted from position twelve to position six according to the ranking of navies done worldwide. Following the denial by Cuba, a Spanish country, that the US could not buy the camps from them, there was a disagreement caused the US navy to wedge war against Spain in 1898. It was at this time before the start of the war that the US Deputy navy secretary called Theodore Roosevelt secretly organized the navy in readiness for the battle. This war was not favorable for the Spanish since most of its parts were defeated. The navy defeating its opponents who had the modern fleet that was rated less powerful was a motivation to them. The appointment of Theodore Roosevelt, who was earlier on a major role player in the navy helped a lot in bringing the navy to position two all the way from position six, as ranked according to word standards. In the first position was the Royal navy. The president put a lot of importance on the canal in SU made the movement of ships easier. Through the favorable war atmosphere that was created by President Roosevelt, the more high skilled people were motivated to come up with more improved submarines. Among them was John Philip Holland. The Great White Fleet from during the President’s reign could move to any part of the world. There broke up the First World War from 1912 to 1918. The scenario that made the US more popular in the strength was when they barred the German ship from shipping the illegal weapons to Mexico. They seized it at the port Veracruz. This ended with the celebrating of the navy where they won fifty-five Medals of Honor as prizes of heroism. However, the first most celebrated moment of success for US navy was when it the German U- boat, U-58, was captured by there fleet. In the US army, the women were given opportunities to be in the non-nursing dignitaries, this must have been the first army forces to permit such. After this war, the navy was so strong that it was regarded equivalent to the Royal Navy in terms of aircrafts and ships. It was during this period that various treaties we formed to strengthen the navy and more improvements done after realizing other states were devising more powerful war machinery to counter there attack in the Second World War. During the cold war and post-cold, the US navy was known to be having the most advanced navy with their improved technology that has led to construction of stronger ships, weapons and aircrafts. Work cited Toll, W. Ian. Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the US Navy, W.W. Norton, 2008. Zacks, Richards. The Pirate Coast: The First Marines and the Mission of 1805, Hyperion, 2005. Read More