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. How this meager presence became the major naval power it remains to this day is the subject of American Naval History, 1607-1865: Overcoming the Colonial Legacy. A wide-ranging yet concise survey of the U.S. Navy from the colonial era through the Civil War, the book draws on American, British, and French history to reveal how navies reflect diplomatic, political.

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.