John Paul Jones
“Father of the United States Navy”
United States Navy Captain (1775–1788)
American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)
American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)
Biography
JOHN PAUL JONES (July 6, 1747 – July 18, 1792) was a Scottish sailor and the United States' first well-known naval fighter in the American Revolution. Although he made enemies among America's political elites, his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation which persists to this day. As such he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the United States Navy" (an epithet he shares with John Barry). He later served in the Imperial Russian Navy.
During his engagement with HMS Serapis, Jones uttered, according to the later recollection of his first lieutenant, the legendary reply to a taunt about surrender from the British captain: "I have not yet begun to fight!" » Full Bio
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This Day In History 235 Years Ago
John Paul Jones Leads American Raid On Whitehaven, England
At 11 p.m. on this day in 1778, Commander John Paul Jones leads a small detachment of two boats from his ship, the USS Ranger, to raid the shallow port at Whitehaven, England, where, by his own account, 400 British merchant ships are anchored. Jones was hoping to reach the port at midnight, when ebb tide would leave the shops at their most vulnerable.
Jones and his 30 volunteers had greater difficulty than anticipated rowing to the port, which was protected by two forts. They did not arrive until dawn. Jones' boat successfully took the southern fort, disabling its cannon, but the other boat returned without attempting an attack on the northern fort, after the sailors claimed to have been frightened away by a noise. To compensate, Jones set fire to the southern fort, which subsequently engulfed the entire town.
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