The first ship commissioned by the Continental Navy was USS Alfred.
The Continental Congress acquired the merchant ship Black Prince in Philadelphia on November 4, 1775, renamed her Alfred, and converted her into a warship. She was placed in commission on December 3, 1775, under Captain Dudley Saltonstall and became the flagship of Commodore Esek Hopkins’s first Continental Navy squadron.
Alfred was a 24-gun frigate and one of several former merchant vessels adapted for wartime service. Her early officers included John Paul Jones, who served as first lieutenant and later commanded the ship. On the commissioning day, Jones raised the Grand Union Flag aboard Alfred, an important predecessor of the modern American flag.
The ship led the Continental squadron on its 1776 expedition to the Bahamas, where American forces captured military supplies at Nassau. Alfred was later captured by the Royal Navy in 1778, served as HMS Alfred, and was eventually sold. “USS” is a modern-style designation; during the Revolution, she was more precisely called Continental ship Alfred.