There are names in American naval history that echo like cannon fire across the centuries. John Paul Jones. David Farragut. Chester Nimitz. But before them all, before the Navy had steel hulls and nuclear reactors, before the Stars and Stripes flew over a single commissioned warship, there was Esek Hopkins. For a brief and storm-tossed moment, he was the man in charge of the very first American fleet. He was bold, controversial, irascible, and imperfect. And yet, without him, the United States Navy might never have gotten off the ground—or, more precisely, off the docks.