Connecticut State Navy

In the remaining years of the war a few smaller ships were commissioned to interdict smuggling between the Connecticut shore and Tory-controlled Long Island.

After the American Revolutionary War began in April 1775, the Connecticut General Assembly in July authorized the Governor and Council of Safety to procure and outfit two armed vessels.

On July 24, Governor Jonathan Trumbull and the Council appointed a committee to identify potentially useful vessels in the colony's harbors.

In December 1775 the General Assembly authorized the acquisition of more ships, specifically another armed vessel and four row galleys, "for the defence of this and the neighboring colonies.

Oliver Cromwell was the first purpose-built warship commissioned by the Connecticut General Assembly--Minerva, Spy, and Defence were all already under construction or launched when purchased.

In February 1776, after a presentation by inventor David Bushnell, authorized the payment of £60 so that he could complete the construction of what became the Turtle, a small one-man submarine designed to attach a mine to another ship.

Most of the navy's cruising was in Long Island Sound, although some ships, notably Spy and Oliver Cromwell, went further afield; further, the three row galleys served in the Hudson River above New York, where the British eventually captured or sank them.