USS Alliance (1778)

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	28 × 18-pounder long guns 12 × 9-pounder guns
Service record
Commanders:	Capt. Pierre Landais (1778–1780) Capt. John Barry (1780–1783)
Operations:	Battle of Flamborough Head

The first Alliance of the United States Navy (which served as part of the Continental Navy) was a 36-gun sailing frigate of the American Revolutionary War.

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 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.^{[citation needed]}