Good morning, Whitewater.
We’ll have a mostly sunny day in Whitewater with a high of fifty-four. Sunrise is 7:07 AM and sunset 6:14 PM, for 11h 06m 36s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 89.6% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1775, the Continental Congress establishes a navy, a date now recognized as the birth of the United States Navy:
Continental frigates Hancock and Boston capturing British frigate Fox, June 7, 1777.
On June 12, 1775, the Rhode Island General Assembly, meeting at East Greenwich, passed a resolution creating a navy for the colony of Rhode Island. The same day, Governor Nicholas Cooke signed orders addressed to Captain Abraham Whipple, commander of the sloop Katy and commodore of the armed vessels employed by the government.[2]
The first formal movement for the creation of a Continental navy came from Rhode Island, because its merchants’ widespread shipping activities had been severely harassed by British frigates. On August 26, 1775, Rhode Island General Assembly passed a resolution that there be a single Continental fleet funded by the Continental Congress.[3] The resolution was introduced in the Continental Congress on October 3, 1775 but was tabled. In the meantime, George Washington had begun to acquire ships, starting with the schooner Hannah which was paid for out of Washington’s own pocket.[2]Hannah was commissioned and launched on September 5, 1775 from the port of Beverly, Massachusetts, after being sold by the future General John Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts.[4]
The United States Navy recognizes October 13, 1775 as the date of its official establishment,[1] the passage of the resolution of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia that created the Continental Navy.[5] On this day, Congress authorized the purchase of two vessels to be armed for a cruise against British merchant ships; these ships became Andrew Doria and Cabot.[1] The first ship in commission was the USS Alfred which was purchased on November 4 and commissioned on December 3 by Captain Dudley Saltonstall.[6] On November 10, 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for two battalions of Marines to be raised for service with the fleet.[7]
JigZone‘s daily puzzle for Thursday is of a flower: