USS Alliance (1778)
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
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| Name: | USS Alliance |
| Builder: | William and James K. Hackett |
| Laid down: | 1777 |
| Launched: | 28 April 1778 |
| Fate: | Sold into merchant service, 1 August 1785 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Frigate |
| Tonnage: | 900 |
| Length: | 151 ft (46 m) |
| Beam: | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Depth: | 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) |
| Propulsion: | Sail |
| Complement: | 300 officers and men |
| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Commanders: |
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| Operations: | Battle of Flamborough Head |
The first Alliance of the United States Navy was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the American Revolutionary War.
Originally named Hancock, she was laid down in 1777 on the Merrimack River at Amesbury, Massachusetts, by the partners and cousins, William and James K. Hackett, launched on 28 April 1778, and renamed Alliance on 29 May 1778 by resolution of the Continental Congress. Her first commanding officer was Capt. Pierre Landais, a former officer of the French Navy who had come to the New World hoping to become a naval counterpart of Lafayette. The frigate's first captain was widely accepted as such in America. Massachusetts made him an honorary citizen and the Continental Congress gave him command of Alliance, thought to be the finest warship built to that date on the western side of the Atlantic.
The new frigate's first assignment was to carry Lafayette back to France to petition the French Court for increased support in the American struggle for independence. Manned by a crew composed largely of British and Irish sailors, Alliance departed Boston on 14 January 1779 bound for Brest, France. During the crossing, a plot to seize the ship, involving 38 members of the crew, was uncovered on 2 February before the mutiny could begin. The disloyal sailors were put in irons, and the remainder of the voyage, in which the frigate captured two prizes, was peaceful. The ship reached Brest safely on the 6th.
After the marquis and his suite had disembarked, Benjamin Franklin, one of the American commissioners in Paris, ordered her to remain in France despite the fact that Landais's original instructions had called for him to load the frigate with munitions and then to sail promptly for America. Instead, Franklin assigned the frigate to a squadron to be commanded by Captain John Paul Jones.
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