Navies are born out of a spirit of independence and under the threat of war, nurtured into maturity by the urgent demands of defense and sharpened by conflict. So it was with the first American Navy.

The Second Continental Congress met on May 10, 1775 while the colonists were continuing their battle with the British. Before long, it became clear to Congress that if the colonies were to survive they would need a navy. On Oct. 13, 1775, the Second Continental Congress authorized the purchase of two vessels, thus establishing the first United States Navy.

The American colonies were heavily dependent on the sea for their livelihood. Harbors and shipbuilding docks provided livelihood and income to many people. When the conflict between the colonies and England began, the British struck first at the ports. From these ports, the colonies deployed small ships from a hastily organized naval force to harass the mightiest sea power in the world. The principal objective of the colonial fleet was to capture enemy supply and munitions vessels.

Fighting with the colonialists were groups of independent fleets called privateers. These fleets were commissioned by the Continental Congress and by individual states to capture enemy merchant ships as prizes of war.

A typical vessel used by the privateers was the schooner, a small, fast, flexible, flush-deck ship that carried smooth bore cannons. The schooners broke the British strangle hold on New England harbors, by slipping past the Royal Navy's men-of-war and hiding in inlets. Unable to meet the British head-on, the American ships outmaneuvered them, striking the enemy ships in strategic places.

With the end of the Revolutionary War, followed by the establishment of a new federal government, the infant U.S. Navy went into decline. By war's end, in 1783, the Navy was down to five ships. These ships were disbanded shortly thereafter, with the frigate Alliance, the last of them, being sold in 1785.

However, it wasn't long before the need for a new Navy was realized. America's small merchant fleet was being molested on the high seas. In 1794, a Navy-conscious Congress authorized the construction of six frigates. They were to be of a new design -- longer and more heavily armed than traditional frigates. They possessed a combination of firepower and speed. One of these was the USS Constitution, completed in 1798. Rated a 44-gun, it was capable of sailing at 13.5 knots. The Constitution, nicknamed "Old Ironsides", is still in commission and can be seen at the Boston Navy Yard.

From its humble beginnings, the Navy has grown to what we are today - a mighty fleet of destroyers, cruisers, frigates, nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers.