Pennsylvania Navy The Pennsylvania Navy ( more formally known as the Pennsylvania State Navy or in modern terms the Pennsylvania Naval Militia ) served as the naval force of Pennsylvania during the American Revolution and afterward , until the formation of the United States Navy . The navy ' s vessels served almost exclusively on the Delaware River , and were active ( in conjunction with ships of the Continental Navy ) in first defending the approaches to the city of Philadelphia during the British campaign that successfully occupied the city in 1777 , and then preventing ( at least for a time ) the Royal Navy from resupplying the occupying army . The Naval Militia would also be reactivated in the late 19th to early 20th century . History . When the American Revolutionary War broke out in early 1775 , the colony of Pennsylvania ' s decided that the colony ' s capital and seat of the Second Continental Congress , Philadelphia , would need to be protected against the incursions of British naval vessels on the Delaware River . On July 6 , 1775 it authorized the purchase and outfitting of ships for that purpose . Two days later it placed its first order for an armed galley . By October thirteen such boats had been built , at a cost of £550 each , and outfitted with a single cannon in the bow , and appointed Thomas Read as commodore of the fleet . The first six were launched by July 19 , and another six had been launched by the end of August . Their names were : " Bulldog " , " Burke " , " Camden " , " Congress " , " Dickinson " , " Effingham I " , " Experiment " , " Franklin " , " Hancock " , " Ranger " and " Warren " . Additionally , 10 fire rafts were built in late 1775 and early 1776 and placed under the command of Captain John Hazelwood ; the " Arnold " and the " Putnam " were built as floating batteries and were manned by Pennsylvania State Marines . In April 1776 the state acquired the " Montgomery " , which Read served as captain of until he received a Continental Navy commission in October 1776 . By the end of August 1776 , the Pennsylvania State Navy consisted of 768 men manning 27 vessels , with 21 more smaller vessels on order . These were armed with a four - pounder gun in the bow and were classed as guard boats . Administration and command . The navy fell under the broad control of the Committee of Safety , which established subcommittees to manage the navy ' s operations and acquisitions . When the state established a new constitution , with a Supreme Executive Council as its executive , the navy ' s administration was assigned to the Council of Safety . In March 1777 the council established a naval board , which had full responsibility for the fleet , with the exception of the issuance of officer commissions , which authority the council retained . Overall naval command of the fleet was at times contentious . Thomas Read served as its first commodore , but he was replaced on January 13 , 1776 by Thomas Caldwell , who only served briefly , resigning due to poor health in March . His replacement , Samuel Davidson , was promoted by the committee ahead of other captains , and almost caused a mutiny . As a result , Davidson was first removed from fleet command , and then eventually dismissed from the navy . Fleet command was then given to Thomas Seymour , but Captain Hazelwood objected to serving under the elderly Seymour . When British operations began to threaten Philadelphia in September 1777 , the council dismissed Seymour and gave overall fleet command to Hazelwood . In September 1778 , the state established an admiralty court to adjudicate maritime cases and deal with the distribution of prizes . While no explicit legislation authorizing privateer ing appears to have been passed , the state did issue more than 400 letters of marque between 1776 and 1782 . Operations . The navy saw action on May 6 , 1776 , when they engaged the British ships " Roebuck " 44 and " Liverpool " 28 . The British were forced to withdraw to Newcastle , Delaware . The fleet was also active in keeping British troops away from the river ' s eastern shore when General George Washington retreated across New Jersey following the loss of New York City . Hazelwood was instrumental in preventing German troops from quartering in Burlington , New Jersey , a town sympathetic to the Loyalist cause , by bombarding it when troops were spotted there . This forced their commander , Carl von Donop , to quarter his troops much more widely , and may have contributed to Washington ' s successful battle at Trenton on December 26 , 1776 . The Pennsylvania State Navy was responsible for defense of the river when Philadelphia was occupied by British General Sir William Howe , and the Royal Navy wanted to resupply Howe ' s army . At first the combined Pennsylvania and Continental fleet was successful , repulsing one attempt by the British to pass the defenses of Forts Mercer and Mifflin on October 22 and 23 , 1777 with the destruction of two British ships . The two forts were taken by land forces in November , and the navy was then forced to withdraw upriver . Unfavorable winds slowed their progress , and four ships ( " Montgomery " , " Delaware " , " Arnold " , and " Putnam " ) were burned to prevent their capture . In April 1778 most of the fleet was destroyed in advance of expected British operations against it . However , news that the British were going to withdraw from Philadelphia led to its resurrection , and in July Captain Hazelwood reported that the brig " Convention " was ready for action . Its existence as a significant force was limited by the arrival of a French fleet on the North American coast , and in August 1778 the state ' s assembly voted to sell off most of its remaining ships , keeping only the " Convention " and a few smaller ships . The smaller ships proved inadequate protection for the trade ships of Pennsylvania ' s merchants . In response to their petitions , the state authorized the construction of the " General Greene " in March 1779 . Under her captain , James Montgomery , she cruised between New York and the Chesapeake Bay , often in conjunction with Continental Navy ships or privateers , and sent a number of prizes to Philadelphia . According to Montgomery , her crew was virtually unmanageable , and she was sold at the end of the 1779 sailing season . Her unusually low sales price aroused suspicions of collusion in the process . By 1782 the activities of the Royal Navy and Loyalist privateers again spurred Philadelphia ' s merchants to petition for better naval defenses . This resulted in the commissioning of the " Hyder Ally " , which was outfitted by the merchants , and placed under the command of the Continental Navy ' s Joshua Barney . After the successful capture of HMS " General Monk " , Barney took over her command , renaming her " Washington " . After a trip to the West Indies , she was sold to the Continental Navy . The " Hyder Ally " continued to patrol without significant success . By February 1783 , with peace appearing to near , most of the state ' s ships had been sold and its sailors dismissed . On April 10 , 1783 the Supreme Executive Council ordered the remaining armed vessels to be disposed of . Later Naval Militia . Officially called the Naval Force of Pennsylvania . In April 1889 , the Pennsylvania Naval Militia would be reconstituted as one of many organized state naval militias which were the predecessors to the modern day Naval Reserve . By 1894 , Pennsylvania was one of many states using ships lent by the regular navy . It was organized on a battalion level . Ships that served with this militia until the creation of the Naval Reserve included the protected cruiser USS Chicago ( 1885 ) which served from 26 April 1916 to April 1917 and the ironclad USS Wolverine ( IX - 31 ) which served for 11 years making summer training cruises for the Naval Reserve .