Virginia State Navy A Virginia State Navy ( or Virginia Navy ) existed twice . During the American Revolutionary War , the provisional government of the Virginia Colony authorized the purchase , outfitting , and manning of armed vessels to protect the colony ' s waters from threats posed it by the Royal Navy . Early in the American Civil War , after the state of Virginia seceded from the Union on April 17 , 1861 , it briefly had naval forces of its own ; these were eventually adopted by the Confederate States Navy . American Revolutionary War . Virginia , along with the other Thirteen Colonies , was increasingly dissatisfied with the actions of Lord Dunmore , the royal governor of the colony . After the Gunpowder Incident in April 1775 and the news of the war ' s outbreak with the Battles of Lexington and Concord , Dunmore , fearing for his safety , fled with his family to a Royal Navy ship . There Dunmore tried to organize Loyalist s in the colony to counter the rebellion . In December 1775 , the provisional assembly voted to authorize the to buy , arm , and man ships to prevent the royal governor from travelling over the waterways . During the next six months , the committee purchased five ships , and ordered the construction of several more . It also commissioned its first captains : James Barron , Richard Barron , Richard Taylor , Thomas Lilly , and Edward Travis . In May 1776 , the assembly established a Navy Board to oversee naval affairs , and established an admiralty court . Its ships were built across the state , but eventually this became the responsibility of the shipyard on the Chickahominy River and at Gosport . In 1779 the Navy Board was superseded by a Board of War , with merchant vessels regulated by a Board of Trade . This lasted only one year , however , and Virginia established a Commissioner of War , a Commercial Agent , and a Commissioner of the Navy to coordinate her military and trade activities . The fleet ' s first commodore was John Henry Boucher , who was hired from the Maryland State Navy . His service was brief , and he was followed by Walter Brooke , and finally James Barron , who led the fleet until the end of the war . Virginia had difficulty recruiting enough men for her navy , due to the higher pay on privateer s and also shortage of skilled seamen . ( Virginia did not authorize privateering , instead issuing letters of marque covered by the Second Continental Congress . ) Operations . The Virginia fleet primarily to patrolled the Chesapeake Bay , and was perpetually undermanned and poorly armed . Some of the ships were used in commerce , sent on voyages to the West Indies and even Europe . Between 1775 and 1779 the fleet captured 15 prizes , but also lost several ships the same way . The British raided the shipyard at Gosport in 1779 , destroying stores and several unfinished vessels . The arrival of British forces in South Carolina in 1780 , and increased raiding activities by the British in Chesapeake Bay created increased naval defense , an Virginia had to resort to the impressment of seamen . After a British fleet landed troops led by turncoat Benedict Arnold in December 1780 , Virginia in desperation hired privateers to assist the navy . Even so , Arnold advanced up the James River as far as Richmond . A fleet of over twenty small Virginia ships and privateers pursued him , and in a one - sided engagement in April 1781 , the British captured twelve were and the rest were either scuttled or burned . The disaster on the James left the Virginia Navy with a single ship , the " Liberty " . She supported operations that resulted in the Siege of Yorktown later in 1781 , as did three ships hired by the state . When Cornwallis was forced to surrender at Yorktown , Virginia , citing financial reasons , discharged most of its seaman . A few ships were fitted out in 1782 and 1783 , but with the 1783 Treaty of Paris , all but two were sold . The " Liberty " and the " Patriot " were retained as revenue cutters into the late 1780s . The " Liberty " was one of the longest - serving ships of the Patriot cause in the war . American Civil War . A new Virginia Navy existed from April 17 , 1861 , when Virginia seceded from the Union , until Virginia joined the Confederate States of America on June 8 , 1861 , when it was absorbed into the Confederate States Navy . One of the Virginia ' s first actions following secession was to appoint Robert E . Lee as head of both its army and navy . The only flag officer of the second Virginia Navy was Commodore French Forrest , a former officer of the United States Navy . Its headquarters were naval base at Virginia , which had been abandoned by Union forces on April 20 , 1861 . Noteworthy officers . Former members of the United States Navy who would play a significant role in the coming American Civil War : Ships in service . At the time when it turned over its military to the Confederate States , the Virginia Navy had the following ships :