alternatehistory.com

Okay I was watching a program on Athens last night. I saw that Eurybiades was able to convince the Athenians to build a navy -despite its expense- rather than an army -despite the possibility of plunder- to fight Xerxes I. So what if the "maddest idea in the world" had become the "best idea in the world", and the rebel colonies had decided to join together to build a fleet.

I know what some of you are going to say, you're going to claim it would have been impossible for the Americans to build a fleet capable enough to defeat the Royal Navy in the ARW. But I'd just remind you all that Rome(a land power)took to the sea in the First Punic War against Carthage(the preeminent naval power)and won.

Americans have an advantage that even the Romans didn't. New Englanders were some of the best shipbuilders of that era and already have experience building warships. The first warship built in America was the HMS Falkland a 4th-rated ship-of-the-line in 1696. A navy wouldn't be as ideologically threatening to the liberty of Americans like a standing army would. A navy would be easier to man(desertion isn't as much of a problem at sea), and the problem of convincing an American to submit to the brutal discipline needed to turn him from a man into a professional soldier can be avoided.

The Americans really don't even have to build an incredibly massive fleet just of the appropriate dimensions. For example 1st-rated ships-of-the-line are massive and expensive and consequently don't go far from home. European navies were therefore built around 2nd and in particular 3rd raters. America however doesn't have an empire to maintain and protect.

So in Sept. 1775 the Continental Congress authorizes the construction of 13 1st-rated ships-of-the-line and a similar number of frigates. Laid down in between Oct. 1775 and Jan. 1776 completed from Feb-June 1776. I know it sounds like an ambitious schedule but its not without precedent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_St._Lawrence_(1814)

The pace of construction in North America can be greatly increased due to far more readily available resources. Armaments would be the main problem to overcome. But I can see France lending her support by arming the American fleet.
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