USS Alliance (1778)
Contemporary illustration of Alliance | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | USS Alliance |
| Builder | William and James K. Hackett |
| Laid down | 1777 |
| Launched | 28 April 1778 |
| Fate | Sold into merchant service, 1 August 1785 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Frigate |
| Tonnage | 900 |
| Length | 151 ft (46 m) |
| Beam | 36 ft (11 m) |
| Depth | 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Complement | 300 officers and men |
| Armament |
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| Service record | |
| Commanders: |
|
| Operations: | Battle of Flamborough Head |
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USS Alliance was a 36-gun frigate of the Continental Navy. Originally named Hancock, she was laid down in 1777 on the Merrimack River at Amesbury, Massachusetts, by the partners and cousins, William and James K. Hackett, launched on 28 April 1778, and renamed Alliance on 29 May 1778 by resolution of the Continental Congress. Her first commanding officer was Capt. Pierre Landais, a former officer of the French Navy who had come to the New World hoping to become a naval counterpart of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. The frigate's first captain was widely accepted as such in America. Massachusetts made him an honorary citizen and the Continental Congress gave him command of Alliance, thought to be the finest warship built to that date on the western side of the Atlantic.