The need for a navy
Massive, heavily armed ships of the line formed the core of the Royal Navy, each carrying up to over 100 guns depending on her rating. Third-rate ships armed with 64-80 guns (often 74) were the most common. In contrast, all Patriot ships were either frigates of around 20-32 guns (a few had more), or lighter unrated ships. The single exception, the 74-gun America, was the only Continental ship-of-the-line, but it was built too late to see combat, presented to France after the war to compensate them for the loss of a similar ship, and scrapped a few years later due to dry rot.

The Second Continental Congress was aware of the massive power disparity, and was reluctant to commit resources to what they considered was a futile attempt at trying to match the Royal Navy at sea. Supporters of a navy argued that a force was still required to defend the coasts, protect merchant shipping and keep contact with friendly European nations.
 
Washington takes charge
The gridlock was broken by George Washington who was keenly aware of the need for naval power. Later in the war, in 1781, he would write the following in a letter to Marquis Lafayette: “It follows then as certain as that night succeeds the day, that with out a Decisive Naval force we can do nothing definitive. and with it every thing honourable and glorious.” Washington decided to act independently of Congress and commissioned the 4-gun schooner Hannah on September 2, 1775, to prey on British ships transporting soldiers, arms, ammunition and supplies. The ship was provided by Massachusetts fisherman, merchant and politician John Glover. Glover also supplied several other ships for the war, reached the rank of brigadier general in the Continental Army, and formed the Marblehead Regiment, which was both one of the first racially integrated units in American military history, and the unit which famously rowed Washington across the Delaware on December 25-26, 1776.

The first ships of the Navy
Hannah and the other small ships were successful enough to prove Washington right and the Continental Congress came around to supporting the construction of a navy. It was never meant to seriously challenge the British ships of the line, but was intended to prey on British transport ships, denying British land forces their supplies while taking the same supplies for the Continental Army, which was in dire need of them. Future President John Adams took an active role in forming the navy and drafting its operation regulations, earning the nickname “father of the U.S. Navy” which he shared with John Paul Jones and Commodore John Barry, who was both the first American commissioned naval officer and the first American flag officer.
 
Another impetus for the formation of the navy actually preceded Washington’s initiative. The merchants of Rhode Island had already been chafing under strict policing by the Royal Navy, which impacted on their trading business, including smuggling. In August 1775, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a single Continental fleet funded by Congress. The motion was tabled but dusted off in December after Washington’s raiding project war proven viable. Congress authorized the construction of 13 frigates: five with 32 guns, five with 28, and three with 24. Only eight of these ships ever made it to sea, and their effectiveness was limited in the face of British superiority. The other five were all burned down or scuttled to prevent their capture by advancing British forces. Seven of the eight surviving ships were captured by the British at one point or another.

The last of the original frigates of the Continental Navy, the Randolph, became America’s deadliest naval defeat until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Her captain was Nicholas Biddle, who began his career in the Royal Navy and participated in an Arctic expedition with the future legendary British Admiral Horatio Nelson a few years before the War of Independence broke out. (On a note of scientific interest, Biddle had the Randolph equipped with lightning rods on the masts, invented by Benjamin Franklin, to protect her in a storm.) In March 1778, the Randolph was escorting smaller ships when they were attacked by the British GMS Yarmouth. The Yarmouth had twice as many guns as the Randolph and they were of far heavier calibers, but Biddle still engaged the attacker to protect the convoy. The Randolph’s magazine exploded during the battle, killing 311 of the ship’s crew of 315, including the captain. The explosion damaged the sails and the rigging of the Yarmouth badly enough that she could not pursue the convoy.

Not yet a traitor
One of the first naval engagements in the war occurred on October 11, 1776, on Lake Champlain, in a narrow strait between the west shore of the lake and Valcour Island. The Continental Army was retreating from Quebec with a massive British force in pursuit. A hastily assembled and badly outgunned Patriot naval force was commanded by Benedict Arnold, the officer who would infamously turn traitor later in the war, in an attempt to stop or at least delay the British, who themselves needed a fleet to carry their army across the lake. Arnold had no real chance of victory, but his actions delayed the British long enough that their push south had to be delayed until next spring. This bought the Continental Army time to resupply itself and better prepare for the Battle of Saratoga in the fall of 1777. American victory at Saratoga became the turning point of the war.

The commander-in-chief and early success
The naval commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy was Esek Hopkins, the son of one of the most prominent Rhode Island families, and a former merchant adventurer and privateer. On a darker note, he was also a former slave merchant, who bungled his one slave-trading voyage so badly that 109 of the 196 slaves onboard died before reaching America.
 
In January 1776, Hopkins was ordered by Congress to engage British forces in Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, then patrol the coasts of North and South Carolina. His orders included a line stating that if he became unable to carry out the order due to “bad winds, or stormy weather, or any other unforeseen accident or disaster,” he was to act as he saw fit.