U.S. Navy History UPDATED Exam
Questions and CORRECT Answers
12 June 1775 - CORRECT ANSWER - First engagement at sea during the Revolution.
Citizens of Machias, Maine, under the command of Jeremiah O'Brien, seized a cargo sloop and
with her captured the cutter HMS Margaretta
6 September 1775 - CORRECT ANSWER - The schooner Hannah sailed as the first
united of a number of armed fishing vessels sen to sea by the Continental Army to intercept
British supply ships during the siege of Boston
13 October 1775 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Continental Congress authorized the
outfitting of a ten-gun warship "for intercepting such transports as may be laden with stores for
the enemy". This marked the beginning of the Continental Navy(Forerunner to the US Navy).
3 December 1775 - CORRECT ANSWER - The first man-of-war of the Continental Navy,
the Alfred was commissioned at Philadelphia. Her "first lieutenant" was LT John Paul Jones
3-4 March 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - A Continental squadron under the command of
Commodore Esek Hopkins, composed of the Alfred, Columbus, Andrea Doria, Cabot,
Providence, Hornet, Wasp, and Fly, successfully attacked the British at Nassau in the Bahamas.
Captured were 71 cannon and 15 mortars. This was also the first amphibious assault by
American Marines, under the command of CAPT Samuel Nicholas
4 April 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - The brig Lexington, under John Barry, defeated
HMS Edward in lower Delaware Bay. This was the earliest of Barry's successes
7 September 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - Sgt. Ezra Lee of the Continental Army made
the first "submarine" attack on a warship, an unsuccessful attempt to attach a powder charge to
the hull of an anchored British ship from the submersible Turtle, designed by David Bushnell.
The deep-submergence craft DSV 3 is also named Turtle
,11 October 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - A Continental Army squadron of gunboats
under Col. Benedict Arnold fought a British on Lake Champion in the Battle of Valcour Island.
This caused the British to delay the invasion of the Hudson River Valley for a year, by which
time the Continental Army was able to prepare and achieve a vital victory.
15 November 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - Continental Congress set pay rates for
officers and men Petty officer rates were prescribed, though these were not divided into classes
until 1885.
16 November 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - The U.S. flag was sated for the first time by
the Dutch governor of St. Eustatius Island in the West Indies
24 April 1778 - CORRECT ANSWER - John Paul Jones, in command of the slopp
Ranger, defeated the sloop HMS drake off Belfast, Ireland. The Drake became the first major
British warship to be taken by the new Navy.
4 May 1780 - CORRECT ANSWER - An insignia, adopted by the Board of Admiralty(
which had been set up bye the Continental Congress to direct naval operations ) became the first
Navy's first official seal.
23 September 1780 - CORRECT ANSWER - John Paul Jones, now commanding the
converted Bonhomme Richard, defeated the frigate HMS Serapis in a night fight off
Flamborough Head, England. His ship was badly battered( she would sink after the fight), Jones
rejected the British surrender question with his defiant "I have not yet begun to fight!"
5 September 1781 - CORRECT ANSWER - The French fleet, under ADM Gomte de
Grasse, blockade Hampton Roads to keep reinforcement from Gen. Charles Cornwallis' British
Army at Yorktown, Virginia, under the siege by Gen. George Washington's Continental troops
and by Frech forces under Gen. Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau. The Comte de Grasse honors this
rally
17 October 1781 - CORRECT ANSWER - General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown,
thus ending the Revolutionary War
,19 April 1783 - CORRECT ANSWER - George Washington proclaimed the Revolution
officially ended
2 August 1785 - CORRECT ANSWER - The frigate Alliance, last survivor of the
Continental Navy, was sold out of service.
6 January 1791 - CORRECT ANSWER - A Senate committee reported that US trade in
the Mediterranean was impossible to protect without a naval force.
27 March 1794 - CORRECT ANSWER - President Washington signed into law "an act to
provide a naval armament" which provided for the building of six frigates: the Constitution,
United States, Constellation, Congress, Chesapeake, and President. The captains were to be paid
$75 a month, ordinary seamen $10. Rations were valued at 28 cents a day
May-October 1797 - CORRECT ANSWER - The frigates United States, Constellation,
and Constitution were launched
30 April 1798 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Navy Department was established. Up to
then, the secretary of war, a distant predecessor of today's secretary of defense, had directed both
the Army and Navy.
May 1798 - CORRECT ANSWER - The converted merchantman Ganges, first warship to
fit out and go to sea under the new federal constitution, put to sea to protect shipping off the US
East Coast
18 June 1798 - CORRECT ANSWER - Benjamin Stoddert, first Secretary of the Navy,
took office. His salary was $3,000 a year. The first actions in the undeclared quasi-war with
France occurred in June.
9 February 1798 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Constellation, under Thomas Truxtun,
defeated the French frigate Insurgente in 30 minutes(wow). The Frenchmen had one hundred
casualties, the American four(even more wow)
, 1 February 1800 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Constellation, still under Truxtun, battered
the French ship Vergeance for five hours, but nightfall and damage to the American vessel
allowed the French to get away(cowards). Midshipman James C. Jarvis was lost when the
Constellation's mainmast gave way.
31 October 1803 - CORRECT ANSWER - The frigate Philadelphia, under CAPT William
Bainbridge, ran aground on a reef off Tripoli(Libya) while pursuing Barbary pirate craft; his
ships and crew were captured. The American crew spent 20 months in a Tripolitan prison before
being freed(Darn it).
16 February 1804 - CORRECT ANSWER - LT Stephen Decatur, with 83 volunteers from
the frigate Constitution and the schooner Enterprise, entered Tripoli harbor at night in the ketch
Intrepid and destroyed the Philadelphia without a single loss(wohoo). English admiral Lord
Nelson termed it "the most daring act of the age".
3 August 1804 - CORRECT ANSWER - Commodore Edward Preble in the Constitution
led the U.S. Mediterranean Squadron in the first of a series of attacks against Tripoli that
ultimately ended the Barbary wars and freed Bainbridge and the other Americans. The Peace
treaty was signed 5 June 1805,
16 May 1811 - CORRECT ANSWER - In the mistaken belief he was attacking the frigate
HMS Guirriere, which had been conducting some high-handed operations off the American East
Coast, CAPT John Rodgers in the President blasted the sloop HMS Little Belt in a night
encounter begun by the smaller ship.
18 June 1812 - CORRECT ANSWER - President James Madison declared war on Great
Britain over "free trade and sailor's right". The US Navy then had but 17 warships, the British
over 600.
16-28 June 1812 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Constitution, under CAPT Issac Hull,
escaped a five ship British squadron in a classic 69-hour chase.
3 August 1812 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Essex, under David Porter, captured HMS
Albert after one broadside.
Questions and CORRECT Answers
12 June 1775 - CORRECT ANSWER - First engagement at sea during the Revolution.
Citizens of Machias, Maine, under the command of Jeremiah O'Brien, seized a cargo sloop and
with her captured the cutter HMS Margaretta
6 September 1775 - CORRECT ANSWER - The schooner Hannah sailed as the first
united of a number of armed fishing vessels sen to sea by the Continental Army to intercept
British supply ships during the siege of Boston
13 October 1775 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Continental Congress authorized the
outfitting of a ten-gun warship "for intercepting such transports as may be laden with stores for
the enemy". This marked the beginning of the Continental Navy(Forerunner to the US Navy).
3 December 1775 - CORRECT ANSWER - The first man-of-war of the Continental Navy,
the Alfred was commissioned at Philadelphia. Her "first lieutenant" was LT John Paul Jones
3-4 March 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - A Continental squadron under the command of
Commodore Esek Hopkins, composed of the Alfred, Columbus, Andrea Doria, Cabot,
Providence, Hornet, Wasp, and Fly, successfully attacked the British at Nassau in the Bahamas.
Captured were 71 cannon and 15 mortars. This was also the first amphibious assault by
American Marines, under the command of CAPT Samuel Nicholas
4 April 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - The brig Lexington, under John Barry, defeated
HMS Edward in lower Delaware Bay. This was the earliest of Barry's successes
7 September 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - Sgt. Ezra Lee of the Continental Army made
the first "submarine" attack on a warship, an unsuccessful attempt to attach a powder charge to
the hull of an anchored British ship from the submersible Turtle, designed by David Bushnell.
The deep-submergence craft DSV 3 is also named Turtle
,11 October 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - A Continental Army squadron of gunboats
under Col. Benedict Arnold fought a British on Lake Champion in the Battle of Valcour Island.
This caused the British to delay the invasion of the Hudson River Valley for a year, by which
time the Continental Army was able to prepare and achieve a vital victory.
15 November 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - Continental Congress set pay rates for
officers and men Petty officer rates were prescribed, though these were not divided into classes
until 1885.
16 November 1776 - CORRECT ANSWER - The U.S. flag was sated for the first time by
the Dutch governor of St. Eustatius Island in the West Indies
24 April 1778 - CORRECT ANSWER - John Paul Jones, in command of the slopp
Ranger, defeated the sloop HMS drake off Belfast, Ireland. The Drake became the first major
British warship to be taken by the new Navy.
4 May 1780 - CORRECT ANSWER - An insignia, adopted by the Board of Admiralty(
which had been set up bye the Continental Congress to direct naval operations ) became the first
Navy's first official seal.
23 September 1780 - CORRECT ANSWER - John Paul Jones, now commanding the
converted Bonhomme Richard, defeated the frigate HMS Serapis in a night fight off
Flamborough Head, England. His ship was badly battered( she would sink after the fight), Jones
rejected the British surrender question with his defiant "I have not yet begun to fight!"
5 September 1781 - CORRECT ANSWER - The French fleet, under ADM Gomte de
Grasse, blockade Hampton Roads to keep reinforcement from Gen. Charles Cornwallis' British
Army at Yorktown, Virginia, under the siege by Gen. George Washington's Continental troops
and by Frech forces under Gen. Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau. The Comte de Grasse honors this
rally
17 October 1781 - CORRECT ANSWER - General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown,
thus ending the Revolutionary War
,19 April 1783 - CORRECT ANSWER - George Washington proclaimed the Revolution
officially ended
2 August 1785 - CORRECT ANSWER - The frigate Alliance, last survivor of the
Continental Navy, was sold out of service.
6 January 1791 - CORRECT ANSWER - A Senate committee reported that US trade in
the Mediterranean was impossible to protect without a naval force.
27 March 1794 - CORRECT ANSWER - President Washington signed into law "an act to
provide a naval armament" which provided for the building of six frigates: the Constitution,
United States, Constellation, Congress, Chesapeake, and President. The captains were to be paid
$75 a month, ordinary seamen $10. Rations were valued at 28 cents a day
May-October 1797 - CORRECT ANSWER - The frigates United States, Constellation,
and Constitution were launched
30 April 1798 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Navy Department was established. Up to
then, the secretary of war, a distant predecessor of today's secretary of defense, had directed both
the Army and Navy.
May 1798 - CORRECT ANSWER - The converted merchantman Ganges, first warship to
fit out and go to sea under the new federal constitution, put to sea to protect shipping off the US
East Coast
18 June 1798 - CORRECT ANSWER - Benjamin Stoddert, first Secretary of the Navy,
took office. His salary was $3,000 a year. The first actions in the undeclared quasi-war with
France occurred in June.
9 February 1798 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Constellation, under Thomas Truxtun,
defeated the French frigate Insurgente in 30 minutes(wow). The Frenchmen had one hundred
casualties, the American four(even more wow)
, 1 February 1800 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Constellation, still under Truxtun, battered
the French ship Vergeance for five hours, but nightfall and damage to the American vessel
allowed the French to get away(cowards). Midshipman James C. Jarvis was lost when the
Constellation's mainmast gave way.
31 October 1803 - CORRECT ANSWER - The frigate Philadelphia, under CAPT William
Bainbridge, ran aground on a reef off Tripoli(Libya) while pursuing Barbary pirate craft; his
ships and crew were captured. The American crew spent 20 months in a Tripolitan prison before
being freed(Darn it).
16 February 1804 - CORRECT ANSWER - LT Stephen Decatur, with 83 volunteers from
the frigate Constitution and the schooner Enterprise, entered Tripoli harbor at night in the ketch
Intrepid and destroyed the Philadelphia without a single loss(wohoo). English admiral Lord
Nelson termed it "the most daring act of the age".
3 August 1804 - CORRECT ANSWER - Commodore Edward Preble in the Constitution
led the U.S. Mediterranean Squadron in the first of a series of attacks against Tripoli that
ultimately ended the Barbary wars and freed Bainbridge and the other Americans. The Peace
treaty was signed 5 June 1805,
16 May 1811 - CORRECT ANSWER - In the mistaken belief he was attacking the frigate
HMS Guirriere, which had been conducting some high-handed operations off the American East
Coast, CAPT John Rodgers in the President blasted the sloop HMS Little Belt in a night
encounter begun by the smaller ship.
18 June 1812 - CORRECT ANSWER - President James Madison declared war on Great
Britain over "free trade and sailor's right". The US Navy then had but 17 warships, the British
over 600.
16-28 June 1812 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Constitution, under CAPT Issac Hull,
escaped a five ship British squadron in a classic 69-hour chase.
3 August 1812 - CORRECT ANSWER - The Essex, under David Porter, captured HMS
Albert after one broadside.
