In 1775 General George Washingtonsecretly armed a handful of small ships andsent them to sea against the world'smightiest navyFrom the author of the critically acclaimedBenedictArnold's Navy, here is the story of how America's firstcommander-in-chief--whose previous military experiencehad been entirely on land--nursed the fledglingAmerican Revolution through a season of stalemate bysending troops to sea. Mining previously overlookedsources, James L. Nelson's swiftly moving narrativeshows that George Washington deliberately withheldknowledge of his tiny navy from the ContinentalCongress for more than two critical months, and thathe did so precisely because he knew Congress wouldnot approve.