United States Navy

===From re-establishment to the Civil War===
{{see also|Union Navy}}

The United States was without a navy for nearly a decade, a state of affairs that exposed U.S. maritime merchant ships to a series of attacks by the [[Barbary pirates]]. The sole armed maritime presence between 1790 and the launching of the U.S. Navy's first warships in 1797 was the [[U.S. Revenue Cutter Service|U.S. Revenue-Marine]], the primary predecessor of the [[U.S. Coast Guard]]. Although the United States Revenue Cutter Service conducted operations against the pirates, the pirates' depredations far outstripped its abilities and Congress passed the [[Naval Act of 1794]] that established a permanent standing navy on 27 March 1794.<ref name="US">{{cite web |url=https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/new-us-navy/act-draft.html |title=Launching the New U.S. Navy, 27 March 1794 |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration Center for Legislative Archives Records of the U.S. Senate Record Group 46 |access-date=1 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110107211812/http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/new-us-navy/act-draft.html |archive-date=7 January 2011 |url-status=live |date=15 August 2016}}</ref> The Naval Act ordered the construction and manning of [[Original six frigates of the United States Navy|six frigates]] and, by October 1797,<ref name="love"/> the first three were brought into service: {{USS|United States|1797|6}}, {{USS|Constellation|1797|6}}, and {{USS|Constitution}}. Due to his strong posture on having a strong standing Navy during this period, [[John Adams]] is "often called the father of the American Navy".<ref>{{cite book | last=Wood | first=Gordon S. | title=Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson | publisher=Penguin Press | year=2017 | isbn=978-0735224711 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/j/john-adams-frigate-i.html|title=John Adams I (Frigate) 1799–1867|publisher=USA.gov|access-date=22 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150909083339/http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/j/john-adams-frigate-i.html|archive-date=9 September 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1798–99 the Navy was involved in an undeclared [[Quasi-War]] with France.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/quasi-war/|title=Quasi-War|author=Randal Rust|publisher=R.Squared Communications|access-date=5 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415193423/http://www.americanhistorycentral.com/entries/quasi-war/|archive-date=15 April 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> From 1801 to 1805, in the [[First Barbary War]], the U.S. Navy defended U.S. ships from the Barbary pirates, blockaded the Barbary ports and executed attacks against the Barbary' fleets.

The U.S. Navy saw substantial action in the [[War of 1812]], where it was victorious in eleven single-ship duels with the Royal Navy. It proved victorious in the [[Battle of Lake Erie]] and prevented the region from becoming a threat to American operations in the area. The result was a major victory for the U.S. Army at the [[War of 1812#Niagara frontier, 1813|Niagara Frontier]] of the war, and the defeat of the Native American allies of the British at the [[Battle of the Thames]]. Despite this, the U.S. Navy could not prevent the British from blockading its ports and landing troops.<ref name="multiple1">{{cite web |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/h/history-of-the-us-navy/continental-period.html |title=The Navy: The Continental Period, 1775–1890 |last=Palmer |first=Michael A. |publisher=[[Naval History and Heritage Command]] |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630012657/http://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/h/history-of-the-us-navy/continental-period.html |archive-date=30 June 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> But after the War of 1812 ended in 1815, the U.S. Navy primarily focused its attention on protecting American shipping assets, sending squadrons to the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, where it participated in the [[Second Barbary War]] that ended piracy in the region, South America, Africa, and the Pacific.<ref name="love" /> From 1819 to the outbreak of the Civil War, the [[Africa Squadron]] operated to suppress the [[History of slavery|slave trade]], seizing 36 slave ships, although its contribution was smaller than that of the much larger British Royal Navy. After 1840 several [[United States Secretary of the Navy|secretaries of the navy]] were southerners who advocated for strengthening southern naval defenses, expanding the fleet, and making naval technological improvements.<ref>Karp, Matthew J. "Slavery and American Sea Power: The Navalist Impulse in the Antebellum South." ''The Journal of Southern History'', vol. 77, no. 2, 2011, p. 317. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/41306197 JSTOR website] Retrieved 12 Jan. 2023.</ref>

[[File:USS Constitution vs Guerriere.jpg|thumb|[[USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere|USS ''Constitution'' vs HMS ''Guerriere'']] during the [[War of 1812]]]]
During the [[Mexican–American War]] the U.S. Navy blockaded Mexican ports, capturing or burning the Mexican fleet in the [[Gulf of California]] and capturing all major cities in [[Baja California]] peninsula. In 1846–1848 the Navy successfully used the [[Pacific Squadron]] under Commodore [[Robert Stockton|Robert F. Stockton]] and its marines and blue-jackets to facilitate the capture of California with large-scale land operations coordinated with the local militia organized in the [[California Battalion]]. The Navy conducted the U.S. military's first large-scale amphibious joint operation by successfully landing 12,000 army troops with their equipment in one day at [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]], Mexico. When larger guns were needed to bombard Veracruz, Navy volunteers landed large guns and manned them in the successful bombardment and capture of the city. This successful landing and capture of Veracruz opened the way for the capture of Mexico City and the end of the war.<ref name="multiple1" /> The U.S. Navy established itself as a player in [[United States foreign policy]] through the actions of [[Commodore (USN)|Commodore]] [[Matthew Perry (naval officer)|Matthew C. Perry]] in Japan, which resulted in the [[Convention of Kanagawa]] in 1854.

Naval power played a significant role during the [[American Civil War]], in which the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] had a distinct advantage over the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] on the seas.<ref name="multiple1" /> A [[Union blockade]] on all major ports shut down exports and the coastal trade, but blockade runners provided a thin lifeline. The [[Brown-water navy]] components of the U.S. navy control of the river systems made internal travel difficult for Confederates and easy for the Union. The war saw [[ironclad warship]]s in combat for the first time at the [[Battle of Hampton Roads]] in 1862, which pitted {{USS|Monitor}} against {{ship|CSS|Virginia}}.<ref>{{cite book |last=McPherson |first=James M. |title=War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861–1865 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=80LQH0Aoe3QC&pg=PA3 |year=2012 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-3588-3 |pages=3–4 |access-date=17 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160126040429/https://books.google.com/books?id=80LQH0Aoe3QC&pg=PA3 |archive-date=26 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> For two decades after the war, however, the U.S. Navy's fleet was neglected and became [[technologically obsolete]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZZWBgAAQBAJ&q=us+navy+history|title=The U.S. Navy: A History, Third Edition|last=Miller|first=Nathan|date=5 November 2014|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-1-61251-892-3|language=en}}</ref>