The Whitehaven Raid - When the United States invaded England

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On THIS Day (April 23rd, 1778) in 1778, John Paul Jones INVADED England with his Whitehaven Raid.

John Paul Jones took a single ship, the Sloop of War USS Ranger into the port at Whitehaven, in Northern England with plans of taking that port under cover of darkness and burning the British ships in port.

The raid wasn't entirely successful, as they were only able to set one ship ablaze, but they were able to successfully escape the port in tact. He'd later say that had they been able to land in port just two hours earlier they could've sunk every ship in Whitehaven.

After that, Captain Jones sailed north to Scotland in an attempt to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk, in hopes of making a prisoner exchange, but the Earl, fortunately for him, wasn't home at the time.

Undeterred, Jones sailed on towards Ireland where he took on and captured a British warship, the HMS Drake in British waters, which was a major coup.

Today, we should remember the boldness of John Paul Jones whose Whitehaven Raid, emboldened the American rebels at home, by taking the American Revolution to the shores of England.
(https://youtu.be/BusyV-NnPf4)