On Oct. 13, 1775, at the urging of John Adams and his fellow "navalists," the Second Continental Congress approved a plan to commission two warships — relatively diminutive 10-gun sailing vessels with 80-man crews — to intercept British arms shipments to the colonies. Not everybody liked the idea of a standing naval force; congressional delegate Edward Rutledge of South Carolina called one proposal "the most wild, visionary mad project that ever had been imagined." Nevertheless, an American Navy was born, and it's grown into a 279-ship force that dominates the globe's high seas.