The Continental 74 to which Captain Barry was sent immediately on his arrival at Philadelphia in the "Delaware" was the frigate "America," then building at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. To this command he was appointed on November 6, 1779, by the Marine Committee of Congress, which that day notified the Navy Board at Boston that Captain Barry on his way to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where he goes to hasten the building and fitting out of the new ship on the stocks at that place, would present the notification desiring the Committee to "push forward with all possible expedition" the work Captain Barry had been entrusted with. Barry's orders were "to hasten as much as may be in your power the completing of that ship, which we are desirous of having done with all despatch." On November 20th, as desired by Captain Barry, Captain George Jerry Osborne was appointed to command the marines of the ship, but as it would be "a considerable time before there is occasion to raise the men," he was appointed "on the principle of his being useful in doing matters relative to the ship until that time." How long Captain Barry continued to superintend the building of the new Continental ship--later named the "America," does not appear, but on June 1, 1780, there is record in the _Pennsylvania Archives_ [Vol. I, 5th Series] that Captain John Barry became the commander of the Pennsylvania privateer, the "American," of 14 guns and 70 men. Possibly the work of directing the construction of a vessel was not congenial to the active spirit of one who was at his best amid the more earnest exertions required by a life at sea, seeking the destruction or capture of the armed vessels of the enemy. So again he became a privateersman in the service of his State. He so served three months. On June 26, 1781, Captain John Paul Jones was appointed, in succession to Barry, to superintend the construction of the "America," while Barry was doing service at sea in command of the "Alliance." The expense of launching and equipping the "America" was paid from the shares of the United States "in the prizes taken by Captain Barry" in the first cruise of the "Alliance" under his command. The Board of Admiralty were directed to assign these shares to Robert Morris by Resolution of Congress, June 3, 1781. The "America" when launched in November, 1781, was presented to France to replace the "Magnifique," wrecked in Boston Harbor. The Continental Marine Committee, knowing well Barry's worth, on September 5, 1780, appointed him "to the command of the Continental frigate 'Alliance' now in the port of Boston." He was "directed to repair there as soon as possible to get the ship ready for sea with all possible despatch." The "Alliance" was the largest and finest vessel of the Continental Navy.