A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy

by Thomas J. Cutler

  5. Commerce raiding operations. Unable to stand up against the powerful Royal Navy in direct conflict except on rare occasions, American Sailors waged a kind of guerrilla war at sea by capturing British merchant ships. Washington sent six schooners to sea on commerce raids in the fall of 1775 to capture thirty-eight British prizes. In the nine years of war, nearly two hundred British ships were captured.

  6. Randolph versus Yarmouth (7 March 1778). The U.S. frigate Randolph engaged the far more powerful British ship of the line Yarmouth in a heroic night action that ended when Randolph exploded, killing all but 4 of her 315-man crew.

  7. Ranger versus Drake (24 April 1778). In a “warm, close, and obstinate” action, American Sailors in Ranger (commanded by John Paul Jones) captured the British sloop of war Drake.

  8. Bonhomme Richard versus Serapis (23 September 1779). American Sailors in Bonhomme Richard defeated the more powerful HMS Serapis in the most famous sea battle of the war. Captain John Paul Jones is said to have uttered his famous words “I have not yet begun to fight” in response to the British captain asking if he wished to surrender.

  9. Other single-ship actions. Lexington captured HMS Edward. Sloop of war Providence captured brig Diligent. Alliance simultaneously defeated two enemy brigs (Atalanta and Trepassy). And the list goes on.

  10. Transport and packet operations. Ships were the single means of transport and communication across the Atlantic, performing such important duties as transporting Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and others to Europe to arrange for a French alliance that proved vital to the American cause.

  Quasi-War with France, 1798–1801

  With independence won, the last ship of the Continental Navy was sold in 1785, and the nation soon thereafter experienced the consequences of neglecting sea power. In 1794, the actions of Mediterranean pirates caused Congress to provide a Navy for the protection of commerce. Subsequently, French privateers began seizing American merchant ships, provoking an undeclared war fought entirely at sea.

  In this quasi-war the new U.S. Navy received its baptism of fire. Captain Thomas Truxtun’s insistence on the highest standards of crew training paid handsome dividends as Sailors in the frigate Constellation won two complete victories over French men-of-war. U.S. naval squadrons, operating principally in West Indian waters, sought out and attacked enemy privateers until France agreed to an honorable settlement.

  Stars

  Three bronze stars represent the two ship-to-ship engagements and one series of operations during the Quasi-War with France.

  1. Constellation versus l’Insurgente (9 February 1799). The American frigate soundly defeated her French counterpart because of superior ship handling and excellent crew discipline. The captured French ship remained in the U.S. Navy as USS Insurgent.

  2. Constellation versus la Vengeance (1–2 February 1800). Although the French ship’s broadside was considerably heavier, Constellation’s crew inflicted heavy damage and casualties, causing the French captain to strike his colors twice before ultimately escaping.

  3. Anti-privateering operations. Nearly eighty French privateers were captured during the Quasi-War. Most notable among the American ships conducting these operations were the schooners Experiment and Enterprise.

  Barbary Wars, 1801–05, 1815

  The Barbary States of North Africa (Tripoli [current-day Libya], Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco) had plundered seaborne commerce for centuries. They demanded tribute money, seized ships, and held crews for ransom or sold them into slavery. While the more powerful nations of Europe chose to pay the tribute money, the fledgling United States refused and instead sent naval squadrons into the Mediterranean to oppose these piratical practices. Under the leadership of Commodores Richard Dale and Edward Preble, the U.S. Navy blockaded the enemy coast, bombarded its shore fortresses, and engaged in close, bitterly contested gunboat actions.

  The relatively small U.S. Navy amazed its European counterparts in these early operations and accomplished far more than could be expected of such a newly formed service. Several incidents, including the burning of the captured Philadelphia and the sailing of Intrepid alone into the harbor at Tripoli, loaded with explosives to blow up enemy vessels moored there, set valorous examples for the young naval service.

  After gradual withdrawal of the U.S. Navy led the Barbary powers to renew their age-old piratical practices, two naval squadrons under Commodores Stephen Decatur and William Bainbridge returned to the Mediterranean in 1815. Diplomacy backed by resolute force soon brought the rulers of Barbary to terms and gained widespread respect for the new American nation.

  Stars

  Four bronze stars represent the various actions during the Barbary Wars.

  1. Actions in the harbor at Tripoli. During the first of several attacks on the port city of Tripoli, U.S. Sailors in boarding parties captured several enemy vessels in fierce hand-to-hand fighting. On 3 September 1804, in an act of great courage and sacrifice, a group of volunteer U.S. Sailors sailed the appropriately named ketch Intrepid into Tripoli’s harbor. The Intrepid was loaded with explosives; the Sailors intended to head the vessel for a Tripolitan flotilla, detonate the explosives, set the Intrepid on fire, and escape into small boats. By great misfortune, the explosives detonated in a huge explosion before they were intended, costing the lives of the entire crew.

  2. Blockade of Tripolitan coast. During blockade operations, U.S. ships not only maintained an effective blockade but also captured or destroyed a number of Tripolitan vessels, including Meshuda by frigate John Adams, Mirboha by frigate Philadelphia, and Mastico by schooner Enterprise.

  3. Destruction of the captured USS Philadelphia (16 February 1804). When misfortune caused the U.S. frigate Philadelphia to fall into enemy hands, American Sailors, led by the courageous Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, sailed Intrepid into the harbor at Tripoli, destroyed the captured ship, and escaped, causing Britain’s great naval hero Lord Horatio Nelson to call the exploit “the most daring act of the age.”

  4. Operations against Algiers (1815). When Algerian vessels renewed attacks on American merchant shipping, Congress declared war on Algiers (eight days after peace was signed with Great Britain, concluding the War of 1812) on 4 March. The war was short (four months), with the Algerians suffering all the losses and the dey of Algiers signing a peace treaty dictated “at the mouths of cannons,” in Commodore Stephen Decatur’s words.

  War of 1812

  Interference with the United States’ commerce and its rights to sail the seas without hindrance led to war with Great Britain. Surprising the world, Sailors of the U.S. Navy proved their ability to stand up to the powerful Royal Navy, winning several courageous victories in ship-to-ship actions; the most memorable of these was that by Captain Isaac Hull in USS Constitution (“Old Ironsides”) over HMS Guerrière. Despite the Royal Navy’s close blockade of the American coast, a number of U.S. warships were able to slip through the blockaders to take their toll of enemy naval and merchant ships.

  Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s brilliant success in the Battle of Lake Erie placed the Northwest Territory firmly under American control and sent the nation’s morale soaring. Another fleet victory by Commodore Thomas Macdonough on Lake Champlain turned back a British invasion from Canada.

  Commodore Joshua Barney and his Sailors and Marines made a heroic stand in the land fighting at the Battle of Bladensburg outside Washington. In the final contest of the war, Commodore Daniel Patterson correctly predicted that an enemy blow would come at New Orleans rather than Mobile. Patterson’s small naval squadron so delayed and harassed the advancing British with ship gunfire that General Andrew Jackson was enabled to prepare his defenses and gain the historic New Orleans victory.

  Stars

  Two silver and four bronze stars represent the fourteen actions during the War of 1812 (which actually lasted until 1814).

  1. Constitution versus Guerrière (19 August 1812). In the first action of the war between two frigates, USS Constitution sank HMS Guerri
ère, lifting national morale at a time when the land war was going badly for the Americans. Time and again during the engagement, British cannon shot failed to penetrate the U.S. frigate’s hull, earning her the nickname “Old Ironsides.” In his after-action report, Captain Isaac Hull cited the courage and fighting skill of the black Sailors in the crew, writing that he “never had any better fighters” and that they “stripped to the waist, and fought like devils . . . utterly insensible to danger.”

  2. United States versus Macedonian (28 October 1812). In a second frigate action, U.S. Sailors were again victorious over the Royal Navy. This time, the British vessel was captured and ultimately served in the U.S. Navy for many decades to come.

  3. Constitution versus Java (29 December 1812). In a hard-fought battle—the third consecutive meeting of frigates—American Sailors again defeated the British. HMS Java was so badly damaged that she had to be scuttled.

  4. Chesapeake versus Shannon (1 June 1813). The string of U.S. victories in frigate engagements ended when HMS Shannon defeated USS Chesapeake, but the words of Captain James Lawrence as he lay dying—“Don’t give up the ship”—set an important U.S. naval tradition that continues to this day.

  5. Essex versus Phoebe and Cherub (28 March 1814). Ending an extraordinarily successful commerce-raiding expedition into the Pacific that crippled Britain’s whaling industry, the frigate Essex was defeated by two British ships (frigate Phoebe and sloop of war Cherub) when the British ships violated neutral waters to attack her. Despite the loss, Essex’s captain and crew exhibited the same courage and daring that had characterized their exploits for a full year prior.

  6. Constitution versus Cyane and Levant (20 February 1815). Frigate Constitution defeated two British ships (frigate Cyane and sloop of war Levant).

  7. Sloop of war and brig single-ship actions. While the frigate-to-frigate engagements were capturing the attention and the imagination of the world, the smaller ships were likewise doing battle in the far corners of the earth. The various actions included, among others: on 18 October 1812, U.S. sloop Wasp captured sloop HMS Frolic five days out of Philadelphia; sloop Hornet sank British brig Peacock in early 1813 off British Guiana; sloop Enterprise captured the brig Boxer off the coast of Florida in August; and on 29 April 1814, sloop Peacock captured the British brig Epervier.

  8. Commerce raiding in the Atlantic. By keeping the pressure on British merchant shipping, some of the advantages enjoyed by the more powerful Royal Navy were offset.

  9. Operations against whaling fleets in the Pacific. The frigate Essex was the most famous of the American ships attacking this vital British industry, virtually destroying it for a time by taking twelve prizes around the Galapagos Islands from April through July 1813.

  10. Battle of Lake Erie (10 September 1813). One of the most important naval actions of the war occurred when an American squadron of nine ships (flying a flag with the words “Don’t Give Up the Ship”) under the command of Oliver Hazard Perry defeated a more heavily armed squadron of British ships, capturing them all and allowing an American Army to launch an offensive to recapture Detroit.

  11. Battle of Lake Champlain (11 September 1814). In a battle credited with causing the British to come to the peace table, an American squadron under Thomas Macdonough defeated a British squadron, causing an advancing British army to retreat into Canada.

  12. Defense of Washington (July–August 1814). Although unable to stop the British advance, Commodore Joshua Barney and his naval brigade showed great courage in resisting superior British forces.

  13. Defense of Baltimore (September 1814). Defenders at Fort McHenry were able to prevent the British advance on Baltimore, inspiring Francis Scott Key to write the words to what later became the American national anthem.

  14. Battle of New Orleans (December 1814–January 1815). Slow communications of the day did not prevent this battle from taking place even though the war had officially ended earlier. Supported by naval forces, including a heroic stand by a naval battery on the west bank of the Mississippi River, the American Army under General Andrew Jackson was able to withstand the British assault and save New Orleans from capture.

  African Slave Trade Patrol, 1820–61

  In 1819, Congress declared the long illegal, infamous slave trade to be piracy and, as such, punishable by death. The Navy’s African Slave Trade Patrol was established to search for and bring to justice these dealers in human misery. The patrol, which from time to time included USS Constitution, USS Constellation, USS Saratoga, and USS Yorktown, relentlessly plied the waters off West Africa, South America, and the Cuban coast, all principal areas for the slave trade. They captured more than a hundred suspected slavers before the patrols ended with the coming of the Civil War.

  Operations against West Indian Pirates, 1822–30s

  During the decade between 1810 and 1820, pirates increasingly infested the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, and by the early 1820s, nearly three thousand attacks had been made on merchant ships. Financial loss was great; murder and torture were common.

  In 1822 the Navy created the West India Squadron to combat the problem. Under the leadership of Commodores James Biddle, David Porter, and Lewis Warrington, Sailors of the American Navy crushed the pirates and ended their previously unchallenged crimes.

  Sailors manning open boats for extended periods through storms and intense heat relentlessly ferreted out the outlaws from uncharted bays and lagoons. Added to the danger of close-quarter combat was the constant exposure to yellow fever and malaria in the arduous tropical duty.

  The Navy’s persistent and aggressive assault against the freebooters achieved the desired results. Within ten years, Caribbean piracy was all but extinguished, and an invaluable service had been rendered to humanity and the shipping interests of all nations.

  Indian Wars, 1835–42

  The boggy maze of the Florida Everglades long provided a fortress of refuge for the resourceful Seminole Indians. In 1835 the massacre of an Army detachment by the Indians caused the Navy to send Sailors and Marines into the watery environment.

  Landing parties from the West India Squadron commanded by Commodore Alexander Dallas relieved Army garrisons, enabling them to move into the interior. In 1836, involvement of the Creek Indians extended the war to southern Alabama and Georgia. Small Navy steamers plying the Chattahoochee and other rivers supplied army troops, reinforced by nearly the entire Marine Corps, to keep U.S. lines of communication open and secure.

  American Sailors also operated a brown-water “mosquito fleet” composed of small sailing craft, flat-bottomed barges, and shallow dugouts that could penetrate hundreds of miles into swamps and twisting tributaries to find and help defeat the elusive enemy.

  Mexican War, 1846–48

  Friction between the United States and Mexico, aggravated by an ever-increasing American population in the southwest and the admission of the Texas Republic into the Union, resulted in war. A variety of operations not only served to assure an American victory but also prepared U.S. forces for the great challenges of the coming Civil War.

  Stars

  Four bronze stars represent the actions during the Mexican War.

  1. Veracruz landing (9 March 1847). Veracruz, key to ultimate victory on the Gulf of Mexico, fell before a brilliantly executed amphibious assault planned by Commodore David Conner. More than twelve thousand troops were put ashore with their equipment in a single day, and, at the request of General Winfield Scott, naval gunners and their heavy cannon went ashore to help the Army artillery pound the enemy into submission, opening the way for the capture of Mexico City.

  2. Riverine operations. From the Gulf of Mexico, Sailors under the command of Commodore Matthew C. Perry, navigating small side-wheel steamers and schooners, fought their way up tortuous rivers to capture Frontera, San Juan Bautista, and other enemy strongholds and supply sources.

  3. East coast blockade. The Navy’s Home Squadron was sent south to successfully blockade Mexico’s east coast, e
xerting important economic and international pressure on the enemy.

  4. West coast blockade and operations in California. Sailors from the Pacific Squadron under Commodores John Stoat and Robert Stockton blockaded Mexico’s west coast and conducted successful amphibious operations, landing at Monterey, San Francisco, and San Diego.

  Civil War, 1861–65

  In a war so dominated by massive land battles, it is easy to overlook the role of naval warfare, but as a result of operations on the high seas, on rivers, and in bays and harbors, the Navy was a decisive factor in the Civil War’s outcome. One of the major contributing factors to Union victory was the Navy’s ability to effectively blockade Confederate ports, thereby bringing about economic pressure and seriously limiting Southern maneuverability. The Navy also joined with the Army to launch a series of major amphibious assaults, which resulted in the capture of a number of key strategic positions.

  Armored ships proved more effective than their wooden predecessors, ushering in a new era of naval warfare and maritime technology. The indecisive battle between the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (former USS Merrimack), the first ever between armored vessels, caught the attention of the world and proved to be a turning point in naval history.

  Although Confederate naval forces fought valiantly throughout the war, control of the sea by the Union Navy isolated the South and gave the North’s military forces the added dimension of mobility that sea power provides.