The first American Revolutionary War navy battle was undertaken by Rhode Island Navy Ships.

This naval battle was started because the English Navy captured John Brown and 300 barrels of flour he was taking to sell the American troops.

On June 12, 1775, the General Assembly of the Crown Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations founded a Navy with an enactment that looks like Rhode Island simply decided, without any particular cause, to go into navel warfare with the English Navy.  But read the rest of the story!
 

With the passing of this enactment and the acquiring of the John Brown= s Sloops Katy and Washington, the General Assembly created the first armed Navy of the colonies.

Three days later the sloop Katy, under the command of Captain Whipple, Commodore of the Rhode Island Navy, did capture the sloop Diana, a tender to the British Frigate Rose, in the first official naval action against the English.

How this came about is an interesting story involving the fact that the ship Diana was a ship owned by John Brown and had been captured by the British, while the ship Katy was also a ship owned by John Brown. The story starts in April 1775, with activities of John Brown, and the interception of those activities by Captain James Wallace, commander of the English Navy= s Rose, a 20 gun frigate.

After the Lexington conflict in April 1775, Providence merchant John Brown with his sloop Katy, on orders of the General Assembly, removed most of the cannon from Ft. George in Newport Harbor and returned to Providence with 44 cannon of various sizes. Wallace, who was stationed in Newport with his ship the Rose, was furious and on April 26, 1775 he seized the John Brown= s sloops Diana and Abigail, along with 300 barrels of flour and Brown who was aboard . Wallace sent Brown to Boston on the captured sloop Abigail, for trial before Admiral Graves, as a military matter.

Protests were made by various officials within the colonies. Offers of British prisoners to exchange for Mr. Brown came from many states with even Ethan Allen offering a Major, Captain and two Lieutenants captured at Fort Ticonderoga. By the time Abigail arrived in Boston Admiral Graves found a diplomatic hornets' nest had erupted over the incident.

John Brown and his brother Moses appeared before the Admiral and General Gage. In a conciliatory atmosphere John Brown signed a pledge to urge cooperation between British and Colonial authorities and were released to return to Rhode Island. In return the British were to pay for the flour seized and order the ships returned to Providence at the cost of the British. John Brown in accordance with his pledge appeared before the General Assembly on May 17th to appeal for negotiation and moderation with the British. The motion passed the lower house but was defeated in the upper house.

With the defeat of the conciliatory motion, Capt. Wallace then made threats against Mr. Brown and refused to return the seized ships to Brown. On the contrary Wallace armed Brown= s seized ships Diana and Abigail, and used the Diana as a tender to HMS Rose. (Whether or not Wallace had Admiral Graves' tacit consent or was part of a plan to cause renewed effort by Brown to cause the colony to seek peace is not known but no record shows Wallace him being reprimanded for not returning the ships to Brown.)

The now British ships Diana and Rose created a problem for Brown and those merchants who had ships still at sea and not aware of Captain Wallace's actions. Diana and Rose could come upon these additional ships and seize them because the ships would appear to be Brown= s not English Navy ships.

On June 6, 1775, Diana seized a schooner loaded with supplies for Nantucket of June 6th 1775. The response by Brown was to offer his sloop Katy, which was already armed with 10 four pound carriage guns and smaller swivel guns. Her broad beam, shallow draft along with great spread of canvas made her ideal for the job of stopping his previous ship Diana, now an English ship. Captain Abraham Whipple was in the employment of Brown, so Brown was ready with both ship and crew.

At this point, John Brown wrote to the General Assembly the following letter.

Thereafter, the Rhode Island legislature made its decision to A charter two suitable vessels for the use of the colony and fit out the same in the best manner, to protect the trade of this colony@ which just happened to be the ships Brown had ready and waiting, and further decided to appoint and pay the officers and men Brown had ready and waiting. The ships sailed out A to protect the trade of this colony@ by immediately capturing Brown= s ship Diana back from the English and returning it to Brown. Thus the Navy of what would become the United States had its beginning in the recapture of 300 barrels of flour and two ships of John Brown.

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