The Navy During the Revolutionary War

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Uh, my own uh, research is traditionally focused on ways Anglo-American navies in the early 18th century, late 17th century, uh, were formed by local colonial governments in ways that you might call naval militias or provincial navies. And and and my research is focused on ways that they paved the way for the formation of the Continental Navy and the state navies of the revolution.

[00:00:22]And uh, in some ways this is trying to keep that work going, spiritual sequel of sorts.

[00:00:27]In uh, 1777, Edward Blake, the first commissioner of the South Carolina State Navy Board, wrote some South Carolinians who were then in Philadelphia, which I I I I appreciate the being in that position. Uh, he said, "I would be much obliged to you to furnish us with all such regulations respecting the Continental Navy as we are very desirous to have the navy of our state under as good regulations and on as respectable a footing as any other navy in America." That line, "any other navy in America," may seem jarring from the modern perspective, where we have one, you know, global uh, US Navy, but we're coming at this period from a a diverse array of different naval forces ranging from the state navies uh, to the Continental Navy, which we are here uh, to commemorate the founding of, to privateers, which were a naval force, uh, perhaps among the most successful.

[00:01:19]I I also want to posit that the South Carolina State Navy is a bit of a twin to the Continental Navy. Uh, it was founded in the fall of 1775 as well.

[00:01:29]So, my uh, research so far for my next book project, I've actually been quite surprised at how little drama there was um, between the leadership of the State Navy of South Carolina and the uh, Continental Navy. Uh, military history, as so many of you know, is rife with inter-service rivalries and drama, some of which can be quite juicy or fun to read about, some of which is quite embarrassing, but always seems to be plaguing our our military history for thousands of years. But, what I noticed here that was unique uh briefly is that there was very little any such drama uh in these early campaigns uh between the state navy of South Carolina and the Continental Navy. And my uh uh conference paper is trying to look into why.

[00:02:15]Uh scholarship about the relationship between state navies and the uh the Continental Navy has been sparse to say the least, but it is generally suggested that uh the Continental Continental Navy, excuse me, did not, quote, work out well in practice, unquote, with state naval uh leadership.