<p>Interestingly enough, what is widely accepted as the first Naval battle conducted by the US Navy, involved a fleet commanded by Gen. Benedict Arnold at Valcour Island in 1776. Arnold came from a seafaring Connecticut family. He shrewdly chose to force the British to attack his inferior forces in a narrow, rocky body of water between the coast and Valcour Island, where the British fleet would have difficulty bringing its superior firepower to bear (and where the inferior seamanship of his unskilled sailors would have a minimal effect.)
Although the American ships under the command of Arnold were largely destroyed, the campaign delayed by one year the British attempt to cut the colonies in half and eventually led to the British military disaster at Saratoga in 1777.</p>