Ships of the American Revolutionary Navy (New Vanguard) Review

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Ships of the American Revolutionary Navy (New Vanguard) ReviewAlthough there have been a number of books that have dealt with the American Revolution at sea, particularly in regard to John Paul Jones and his Bonhomme Richard, references on the ships of the Continental Navy as a whole have been few and far between. Mark Lardas, who brings his experience as a naval architect, provides a very useful guide to these early American warships in Osprey's New Vanguard title on the subject. Overall, the book is graphically appealing, well-researched and provides a lot of information in a concise format. For readers looking for a good description of each and every major warship in the Continental Navy, along with a brief synopsis of their wartime service, this is it.
The author begins with a discussion of warship building in the American colonies, which were already building frigate-size vessels for the Royal Navy even before the Revolution. Herein the author provides several useful observations about American shipbuilding: American-built vessels were optimized for speed and were generally larger than similar European-built ships, but colonial vessels were often only built to last a decade or so. Once the Revolution broke out, Congress authorized the conversion of merchant vessels into warships but these ships were not sturdy enough to mount many guns or take substantial damage. In December 1775 Congress ambitiously authorized the construction of 13 frigates in American yards, although it took many years for most of these vessels to be completed. The author also notes the difficulty the infant U.S. Navy had in acquiring adequate cannons for these warships and the necessity to go to sea with mixed armament.
In the next 13-page section, the author discusses the operational history of the ships and the difficulty that the colonies had in putting together effective ships and crews. Although the navy performed well in the early years given its limitations, the colonies simply did not have the resources to conduct a sustained naval war against the greatest fleet on the planet. The author concludes, "the Continental Navy did not go away - it evaporated" and by the end of 1781 the fleet had only two frigates left. The final section provides a synopsis and data for each American warship, including the USS America - the only ship-of-the-line completed by the colonies but not finished until after the war. The volume has seven nice color plates by Tony Bryan: a profile of USS Hancock; the gun deck of USS Warren; the death of the USS Randolph; a 2-page cutaway of the Bonhomme Richard; flags and weapons; Ranger vs HMS Drake; USS Confederacy. The author also provides a glossary and a bibliography. For its size, this volume is an excellent reference.
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