South Carolina Navy

The first time was during the American Revolutionary War, in which the state purchased and outfitted armed vessels independent of the Continental Navy.

South Carolina's first naval actions of the American Revolutionary War occurred in July 1775, when the province's Council of Safety hired two captains to assist Georgia in the capture of British ships carrying arms and gunpowder.

[1] That month the council also hired a ship, Commerce, for the purpose of acquiring gunpowder that the British had stored at Nassau in the Bahamas.

As Boston was at the time under siege by George Washington's newly formed Continental Army, Massachusetts authorized him to recruit up to 300 men, provided he offered moderate wages so as to not compete with local needs.

In the following months the congress, now operating under a new constitution, passed laws establishing admiralty courts and providing for the appointment of ship captains.

This organizational structure survived until February 1780, when the state legislature repealed all previously-established laws respecting the naval establishment.

She was captured in December 1782, and the financial terms Gillon agreed to concerning prize distribution and indemnification of the Chevalier de Luxembourg for its loss bedeviled the state's finances for years.

Additionally, the Navy included frigates, Rattlesnake, Bricole, and Truite (26), the brigs Notre Dame (16), and Comet; also General Moultrie (20).

On May 11, 1862, in the face of advancing Federal forces, Flag Officer Tattnall ordered the destruction of his flagship, CSS Virginia (ex-Merrimack).

During the Spanish–American War, the South Carolina Naval Militia was federalized and deployed aboard several United States Navy vessels.