The Pennsylvania Navy (more formally known as the Pennsylvania State Navy or in modern terms the Pennsylvania Naval Militia) served as the naval force of Pennsylvania during the American Revolution and afterward, until the formation of the United States Navy. The navy's vessels served almost exclusively on the Delaware River, and were active (in conjunction with ships of the Continental Navy) in first defending the approaches to the city of Philadelphia during the British campaign that successfully occupied the city in 1777, and then preventing (at least for a time) the Royal Navy from resupplying the occupying army. The Naval Militia would also be reactivated in the late 19th to early 20th century. As under 10 U.S. Code §7851 naval militias form part of the United States organized militia and therefore are considered as such, the Pennsylvania Navy may be in any point in the future reactivated through either the office of the Governor of Pennsylvania and/or by legislative action committed by the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly. History When the American Revolutionary War broke out in early 1775, the colony of Pennsylvania's Committee of Safety decided that the colony's capital and seat of the Second Continental Congress, Philadelphia, would need to be protected against the incursions of British naval vessels on the Delaware River. On July 6, 1775 it authorized the purchase and outfitting of ships for that purpose. Two days later it placed its first order for an armed galley. By October thirteen such boats had been built at a cost of £550 each, and outfitted with a single cannon in the bow, and Thomas Read was appointed commodore of the fleet. The first six were launched by July 19, and another six had been launched by the end of August. Their names were: Bulldog, Burke, Camden, Congress, Dickinson, Effingham I, Experiment, Franklin, Hancock, Ranger and Warren. Additionally, 10 fire rafts were built in late 1775 and early 1776 and placed under the command of Captain John Hazelwood; the Arnold and the Putnam were built as floating batteries and were manned by Pennsylvania State Marines. In April 1776 the state acquired the Montgomery, which Read served as captain of until he received a Continental Navy commission in October 1776. By the end of August 1776, the Pennsylvania State Navy consisted of 768 men manning 27 vessels, with 21 more smaller vessels on order. These were armed with a four-pounder