Born in a Storm: The Continental Navy and the Battle for the Sea
October 13, 1775, marks the birth of what would become the United States Navy. But the founding of the Continental Navy was anything but smooth sailing. Drawing on the Naval Documents of the American Revolution, this talk explores how a fledgling Congress—with no ships, no sailors, and no unified vision—set out to challenge the greatest naval power on earth. Through letters, orders, and captured intelligence, we’ll trace the Navy’s chaotic origins and consider how its creation reshaped the Revolution’s global reach.
About the Speaker
Christopher F. Minty is managing editor and project director of Naval Documents of the American Revolution at the Center for Digital Editing, University of Virginia. He is author of Unfriendly to Liberty: Loyalist Networks and the Coming of the American Revolution in New York City (2023) and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.