naval history and hertige command (nhhc)
Schooner Hannah
H. LEE WHITE T
anyone in Salem considers our city to be the birthplace of the US Navy, as much as we would be honored by the association. And there are very few bar-room brawls in Marblehead any more, over this issue or any other. Capt. Michael Rutstein Schooner Fame of Salem Salem, Massachusetts
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While Mr. White attempted to pinpoint the birthplace of the United States Navy, he ended up discussing what could be claimed to have been the birth and birthplace of the Army’s navy, which occurred 24 August 1775 with Washington’s commission of the 78-ton schooner Hannah, then owned by John Glover of Marblehead. Hannah operated under the authority of the Continental Army with army personnel for crew as part of what some have called “Washington’s Navy.” Hannah’s first commander was Nicholson Broughton, a captain in the Continental Army. Marblehead could therefore make a legitimate claim to have been the birthplace of the Army’s navy or “Washington’s Navy.” Whitehall (then called Skenesborough) is completely incorrect with its welcome signs and historical plaques prominently placed around town. The fleet constructed at Skenesborough that operated under command of General Benedict Arnold was, without question, under the control of the Continental Army. It had no relationship in any way, form, or manner to today’s United States Navy.
The Army’s navy operated more than 4,000 vessels during the Civil War under the authority of the Union Army. By the midpoint of World War II, the Army’s navy was operating more than 13,000 vessels, from small craft to troop transports under the authority of the Army’s Transportation Corps, Water Division. The birth of the Army’s navy is discussed within The Army’s Navy Series, Volume I, Marine Transportation in War, the US Army Experience, 1775– 1860 by Charles Dana Gibson with E. Kay Gibson. The birth of the United States Navy is discussed authoritatively and comprehensively by Dr. William S. Dudley within his Inside the US Navy of 1812–1815, published last year by Johns Hopkins University Press. Within the preface of his book, Dr. Dudley states: “There was neither a navy department nor a secretary of the navy before 1798.” E. Kay Gibson Hutchinson Island, Florida I enjoyed William H. White’s amusing account of where and when the American navy was founded. I would like to submit some alternate dates that make Whitehall, New York, the hands-down winner. In 1773 and 1774, a far-sighted New Haven merchant, one Benedict Arnold, could see the strong possibility of war with mother England in the coming months and recognized that Britain could snuff out any incipient American-armed resistance simply by sailing a substantial army down Lake ChamSEA HISTORY 179, SUMMER 2022
