The Original Providence

Built in John Brown's shipyard in Providence, Rhode Island, in the 1760s and originally named Katy, the vessel was acquired by the Rhode Island Navy in June, 1775, and placed under Abraham Whipple's command. In October, 1775, Katy became the first ship authorized for commissioning into the newly founded Continental Navy and was rechristened Providence in honor of her origins and crew. In February, 1776, Providence sailed with an American fleet to the Bahamas to raid British forts and landed American Marines in their first-ever amphibious assault. In May, 1776, Lieutenant John Paul Jones took command with the rank of acting captain, and in September, 1776, Providence escaped first from HMS Solebay and then from HMS Milford after an 8-hour chase. Later that month, Jones took Providence to the coast of Canada and decimated the British fishery at Canso, Nova Scotia. In October, 1776, Jones left for the larger Alfred after taking 16 prizes in six months of command. In January, 1778, under Captain John Rathbun, Providence returned alone to the Bahamas for a raid on Forts Montague and Nassau and captured the privateer Mary. In July, 1779, under Captain Hoysteed Hacker, she joined the ill-fated Penobscot Bay expedition and captured a British ship loaded with rum, the last prize she ever took. When that expedition collapsed and the Continentals were trapped in a river and forced to burn their own ships, Providence was the last to burn.

Washington, District of Columbia · United States