USS Liberty (1775)

The first U.S. Navy "Liberty" was a schooner built at Skenesboro (now Whitehall on Lake Champlain, New York for wealthy landowner and former British Army Captain Philip Skene. It was captured on 11 May 1775 during a raid on Skenesboro led by Capt. Samuel Herrick, an early action in the American Revolution.

Named "Liberty" to honor the patriot cause, it sailed via Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point toward St. Jean, the British shipyard on the lake. North of Isle La Motte, the schooner was becalmed, but General Benedict Arnold and 35 men pressed on in small boats. After rowing all night the raiders surprised the fort and captured the sloop "George" (renamed "Enterprise").

The two ships, reinforced by new vessels built at Skenesboro, supported the Continental forces during the Canadian campaign, and prepared to defend the lake when the British assumed the offensive. During the battle of Valcour Island, "Liberty", away on a supply run, escaped the fate of most of Arnold's fleet, only to be destroyed the following summer as Burgoyne marched south.

ee also

* USS "Liberty" for other ships of the same name.