<P> John Barry ( March 25 , 1745 -- September 12 , 1803 ) was an officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War and later in the United States Navy . He came to be widely credited as `` The Father of the American Navy '' ( and shares that moniker with John Paul Jones and John Adams ) and was appointed a captain in the Continental Navy on December 7 , 1775 . He was the first captain placed in command of a U.S. warship commissioned for service under the Continental flag . </P>
who is considered the father of the us navy
John Barry John Paul Jones John Adams