John Paul Jones was the founding father of the United States Navy, America's first naval hero, and America's greatest revolutionary naval commander. John Paul Jones, born Paul Jones, began his sailing career in 1759 at the young age of 12 as an apprentice to a shipowner. The ship crossed the Atlantic once a year, where Jones visited his older brother, a tailor, in Fredericksburg, Virginia; here Jones would study navigation and improve his English. At the age of 17 his apprenticeship ended due to the bankruptcy of the shipowner. (1) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Jones soon accepted the position of third mate aboard a slave ship, where he made two voyages between Jamaica and Africa. Jones, however, was disgusted with the slave trade and in 1762 he resigned his commission and joined the merchant ship John on its way home. This would prove to be an invaluable experience for Jones and the beginning of his legend. On the return voyage, John's captain and first mate died of fever, leaving Jones as the only sailor on board who knew how to sail. Jones successfully took control of the ship and brought it to England. The owners were so impressed that they gave command to the 21-year-old Jones. (2) John Paul Jones was in Philadelphia during the beginning of the Revolutionary War. The Continental Navy suffered from a lack of men, money, supplies, and, above all, leadership; men would not enlist under a leader they did not know or trust. Jones began his naval career when he was commissioned a lieutenant by the Continental Congress. His first assignment was as First Lieutenant of the Alfred, a merchant ship converted into a warship and the lead ship of the fleet sailing to the Bahamas. In May 1776, John Paul Jones was promoted to captain and given command of the sloop Providence. The results were accumulated quickly; within six months Providence captured sixteen British ships and ran over a transport ship carrying British supplies to the British Army in North America. Jones was ambitious in lobbying for a larger command, and in June 1777 with the help of his Congressional friend, John Hancock, he received command of the Ranger, an eighteen-gun sloop. The most notable achievement during his time on the Ranger came on 14 February 1778 off the coast of Ireland; the Ranger was attacked by the Drake, a twenty-gun British sloop. The two ships collided, and the Ranger emerged victorious; for the Royal Navy, it marked the first and most decisive defeat by the Continental Navy in British waters and the beginning of the Continental Navy's battle in enemy territory. (3) In February 1779, the East Indiaman Duc Du Duras was purchased by Benjamin Franklin and command was given to John Paul Jones, who renamed the ship Bonhomme Richard, in homage to Benjamin Franklin's pseudonym, Poor Richard. Equipped with new cannons, a squadron of ships under Jones' command, including Bonhomme Richard, Vengeance, Pallas, and Alliance, set sail into the most dramatic and important naval battle of the Revolutionary War. (4) September 23, 1779 would become the date that would cement John Paul Jones' legacy in American history. Jones encountered a large convoy of British merchant ships, escorted and protected by the forty-four-gun frigate, Serapis, and the twenty-two-gun sloop Countess of Scarborough. Fighting quickly began between the Bonhomme Richard and the Serapis, with the Bonhomme Richard being highly matched. According to the memoirs of John Paul Jones,. (9)