USS Vixen (1803)-- Part 2: Action in the Mediterranean Against the Barbary Pirates

Commodore Preble dispatched the Vixen and frigate USS Philadelphia in October to establish a blockade of Tripoli.  However, the Vixen was searching for two Tripolitan warships when the Philadelphia ran aground and was captured on October 31.

The Vixen ended up carrying dispatches about the Philadelphia's capture and the imprisonment of Captain William Bainbridge, officers and crew to Gibraltar in December.

Retribution for the Philadelphia's capture came quickly, and on 16 February 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur, Jr.  boarded the ship in Tripoli Harbor and after determining it wasn't seaworthy, destroyed it.  Commodore Preble then followed up on this with heavy bombardments of the city on fiver different dates.

The Vixen participated in all five bombardments and also performed tactical actions to coordinate American movement in the Mediterranean Sea.    While in Malta on October 16, 1804, the Vixen was rerigged as a brig to improve its sailing ability.

The American Mediterranean Squadron was now commanded by Commodore John Rodgers and had actions at Tunis in August 1805.  The Vixen returned to the U.S.  in August 1806, now captained by Master Commandant George Cox.

Lots of Future War of 1812 Leaders.  --Brock-Perry

U.S. Navy in War of 1812-- Part 7: The War at Sea to Capture Enemy Warships and Merchantmen

The war at sea to capture British warships and  merchantmen  was the most desirable objective for naval officers and has received the most writing in historical accounts.  The U.S. Navy had numerous victories in ship-to-ship duels.  Some of them are still the most recognizable events in our Navy's history.

They include Captain Isaac Hull and his frigate Constitution's capture of the HMS Guerriere, Captain Stephen Decatur and his frigate United States' capture of the frigate HMS Macedonian  and Captain William Bainbridge and his USS Constitution's capture of the frigate HMS Java.

However, these and most other U.S. victories occurred in the opening months of the war.

By early 1813, the British had eleven ships of the line, thirty-four frigates and fifty -two other warships operating off North America, while  the U.S. only had two frigates at sea.

By November 1813, Britain had established a commercial blockade that stopped all sea traffic regardless of nationality across the entire east coast south of New England.

--Brock-Perry

The Armament of the USS Constitution Had Four Chambers Repeating Guns-- Part 2

In 1812, Joseph G. Chambers of Philadelphia produced a .75 caliber, seven barrel 7-shot repeating gun.  He received a patent for it in 1813 and that same year Secretary of the Navy Jones ordered ten for testing. Commodore William Bainbridge of the Boston Navy Yard conducted the tests and he considered them successful.

He reported this to Jones who then ordered a quantity of the new technology.  In April 1814, George Harrison of the U.S. Navy Depot in Philadelphia received instructions from Jones to send 15 of them "together with their apparatus" to Isaac Chauncey at Sackets Harbor.

Mr. Chambers and his two sons were hired to go along as instructors and trouble shooters.

--Brock-Perry

The Armament of the USS Constitution Had Four Chambers Repeating Guns-- Part 1

From "USS Constitution: All Sails Up and Flying" by Olof A. Ericson.

A Listing of the armament of the USS Constitution during the War of 1812.

Under the command of Captain Isaac Hull:

Thirty 24-pdr long guns on gun deck
Twenty-four 32-pdr. carronades on spar deck
One 18-pdr. bow chaser
Twelve 3-inch Howitzer swivel guns (4 in each top)

The Constitution's armament remained the same while commanded by Commodore Bainbridge.

When Captain Stewart assumed command on February 20, 1815, it had the same armament as well as four Chambers repeating guns.

--Brock-Perry

Back to Lawrence Rousseau-- Part 1: War of 1812 on the USS Erie

On Friday's post, March 18, 2016, I wrote about Lawrence Rousseau of the U.S. Navy, who fought in the War of 1812 as well as the Civil War in the Confederate Navy.

One of the ships he was stationed on during the War of 1812 was the sloop-of-war USS Erie in Baltimore.

Wikipedia.

The USS Erie was a three-masted, wooden-hulled sailing sloop-of-war launched 3 November 1813, in Baltimore and put to sea 20 March 1814 under Commander Charles G. Ridgely.  Unable to reach open sea because of the British blockade of the Chesapeake Bay, she returned to Baltimore 7 April 1814, and remained there without a crew until early 1815.  Lawrence Rousseau was stationed on this ship until after its return to Baltimore.

With the end of hostilities and the British blockade, the USS Erie sailed to Boston on 5 May 1815, and joined Bainbridge's squadron sailing to the Mediterranean to check the Barbary Pirates who had used the U.S. involvement in the War of 1812, to return to their old ways.

The USS Erie mounted two 18-pdr cannons, twenty 32-pdr. carronades, was 117 feet long with a 31.6 foot beam and had a crew of 140 enlisted and officers.

--Brock-Perry

Stephen Decatur and the Second Barbary War-- Part 1

From Wikipedia.

On Friday I wrote about the USS Saranac which accompanied Stephen Decatur to the Mediterranean Sea in what became known as the Second Barbary War.  Again, I have not been able to find out much about this ship, but decided to at least find out something about the war it fought in back then.

Once the War of 1812 was over, it became necessary for the U.S. Navy to again turn its attention to the Mediterranean Sea where the Barbary pirates were once again harassing and capturing American merchant ships and holding them for ransom.

On February 23, 1815, President James Madison asked Congress for a declaration of war against them and it became so on March 2.

Two squadrons were assembled, one under Decautur at New York and the other at Boston under William Bainbridge.  Decatur's fleet of ten ships (one of which was the USS Saranac) was ready first and left for Algiers on May 20, 1815.

--Brock-Perry

The Short Career of the Sloop of War USS Frolic

From Wikipedia. 

One of a three-class group of sloops of war that also included the USS Peacock and USS Wasp, the Frolic cost $72,095 and was built at Charlestown, Massachusetts. Launched 11 September 1813, 509 tons, 119 feet long, 170 crew and carried 22 guns. 

On 18 February 1814, set out to sea under Cmdr. Joseph Bainbridge (younger brother of Commodore William Bainbridge) and cruised to the West Indies. On March 20th, it destroyed a British merchant ship and a Spanish-American privateer. On April 3rd, it sank another British merchant ship. 

On April 20th, while in the Florida Strait it was spotted by the 36-gun frigate HMS Orpheus and 12-gun schooner HMS Shelburne, who gave chase. The Frolic lightened ship by throwing guns and other items overboard, but was still captured after a six hour chase about 15 miles from Cuba. 

The British Admiralty purchased it and it became the HMS Florida until broken up in 1819. 

One Ship, Two Navies. --Brock-Perry

U.S. Navy "Subscription" Ships-- Part 4: Patapsco and Philadelphia

USS PATAPSCO-- 20-gun sloop launched in 1799 as the Chesapeake but name changed for the frigate Chesapeake. In 1800, it and the USS Merrimack aided the British frigate HMS Nereide in defending Curacao in the Netherland Antilles from French attack.

Captured two ships during Quasi War. Sold in 1801.

USS PHILADELPHIA-- 36-gun frigate subscribed by the citizens of Philadelphia and commissioned in 1800 with Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr. in command. Participated in the Quasi War and First Barbary War.
While commanded by William Bainbridge, it was captured in the First Barbary War and later destroyed in 1804 by a daring expedition led by the first commander's son, Stephen Decatur, Jr.

--Brock-Perry

Famous War of 1812 U.S. Naval Officers

From the Naval History and Heritage Site.

William Bainbridge
Joshua Barney
James Biddle
Stephen Decatur
Isaac Hull
James Lawrence
Thomas Macdonough
Oliver Hazard Perry
David Porter (father of Civil War Admiral David D. Porter who was at Fort Fisher.)
Edward Preble
Silas Talbot
Thomas Truxton

I've heard of all but the last two.

Brock-Perry