John Barry (March 25, 1745 – September 12, 1803) is an officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War and later in the United States Navy.

He comes to be widely credited as "The Father of the American Navy" (and shares that moniker with John Paul Jones and John Adams) and is appointed a captain in the Continental Navy on December 7, 1775.

He is the first captain placed in command of a U.S. warship commissioned for service under the Continental flag.

After the war, he becomes the first commissioned U.S. naval officer, at the rank of commodore, receiving his commission from President George Washington in 1797.