Origins of the US Navy: America's Revolutionary Pirate

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 13 October 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Happy 250th Birthday to the US Navy! Today Don asks, who was John Paul Jones and did he really father the US Navy? Our guest is historian James L. Nelson, author of 'Washington's Secret Navy'.

In July 2026, tall ships of the world will be coming to Port of New York and New Jersey. Find out more here: https://sail4th.org/

Edited by Tim Arstall. Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	James, Love is the Answer Tour, with very special guests, Doves, performing in arenas
0:10.1	across the country next April.
0:16.4	Tickets are on sale now at gigs and tours.com and T Tours.com and Ticketmaster.com.
0:21.6	Atk.com
0:22.2	at Ticketmaster.com.
0:22.3	The year is 1779.
0:38.3	Back in America, the revolution grinds on.
0:42.3	But here, under a moonlit sky on uncharacteristically calm coastal waters in the North Sea,
0:48.3	a defiant band of Americans has carried the fight to England.
0:53.3	Two ships drift on the glassy waters,
0:56.1	locked together in mortal combat. Masts splintered, sails and rags, the air thick with smoke,
1:03.6	flame, and the stench of gunpowder. One ship flies the proud ensign of the Royal Navy. The other,
1:14.3	the bottom richard creaks at every sprung seam.
1:21.8	Her decks slick with blood, her hull so torn by cannonfire that moonlight passes clean through her sides.
1:30.2	Across the tangle of broken timbers and burning canvas, the British captain calls out to his enemy's commander.
1:32.0	Do you surrender?
1:45.0	From the shattered decks of the American ship comes a single voice, hoarse and unyielding, the Scotsporn sailor, who will soon become America's first naval hero, John Paul Jones.
1:49.6	Nacer, he replies, I have not yet begun to fight.
2:01.9	Hey, I'm Don Wildman.
2:11.5	Welcome to another episode of American History Hit here with brand new episodes every Monday and Thursday, plus hundreds of archived installments available wherever you get your podcasts.
2:20.5	Nearly 250 years ago, the United States declared itself independence from its mother country and began a long fight to secure its existence.
2:31.3	Around that same time, a restless, Scott-turned American patriot came up with a daring notion that this struggle for our land ought to be taken to the seas.
	...

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