For its first eighty-five years, the United States was only a minor naval power. Its fledgling fleet had been virtually annihilated during the War of Independence and was mostly trapped in port by the end of the War of 1812. In this wide-ranging yet concise survey of the U.S. Navy from the colonial era through the Civil War, Dull draws on American, British, and French history to reveal how navies reflect diplomatic, political, economic, and social developments and to show how the foundation of America's future naval greatness was laid during the Civil War.

The American colonies and the British Navy, 1607-1775 -- The war against Britain, 1775-1783 -- A new Navy fights France and the Barbary States, 1783-1805 -- A precarious neutrality ends in a second war against Britain, 1805-1815 -- Trade protection and war with Mexico, 1815-1861 -- The Civil Aar, 1861-1865 -- Epilogue.