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Continental commander General George Washington then withdrew what remained of his army across the Delaware. The British again used their navy to land troops to capture Fort Lee, New Jersey. British naval control of the Hudson River brought the surrender of Fort Washington in November 1776, with 3,000 prisoners, 100 cannon, and a large quantity of munitions. In July 1776 Admiral Lord Richard Howe's fleet landed 32,000 British troops on Staten Island to begin the New York campaign. In March 1776 they evacuated Boston, which the Continental militias had blockaded from the land. During their return voyage, on 6 April the Americans fell in with the British frigate Glasgow and its tender but took only the tender.įor the first two years of the war the British were able to move by sea at will. On 3 to 4 March, in the only successful large American fleet operation of the war, Hopkins captured Nassau in the Bahamas, securing guns and supplies. In February 1776 the commander of the fledgling Continental Navy, Commodore Esek Hopkins, set sail with a motley collection of small warships. Progress was slow and only the Randolph, Raleigh, Hancock, and Boston and a few smaller warships were able to get to sea in 1777. It purchased merchantmen for conversion to warships and in December 1775 authorized construction of thirteen frigates (five of thirty-two guns, five of twenty-eight, and three of twenty-four), to be built by March 1776 as commerce raiders. Congress also established a Naval Committee to oversee this activity. The British could also transport military supplies and troops to North America, move them at will along the coast, and extract these forces if necessary.Īt the beginning of the war Continental leaders were divided about the wisdom of sending out ships against the British, but in October 1775 they voted to outfit two vessels to intercept transports carrying British troops and military supplies. Thus the Royal Navy could sweep American merchant ships from the oceans, bringing economic pressure to bear on the rebellious colonies. In 1775 Britain had the largest navy in the world and as recently as the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) had defeated both the French and Spanish navies.