HMS Albion-- Part 3: Afterwards

In 1816, the Albion was part of a combined British-Dutch fleet that took part in the bombardment of Algiers on 27 August 1816, which was intended to force the Dey of Algiers to free Christian slaves.  

She fired 4,110 shots at the city and suffered 3 killed and 15 wounded from return fire.

In 1827, she was part of a combined British-Russian fleet under the command of Admiral Codrington at the Battle of Navarino, where a Turkish-Egyptian fleet was obliterated, securing Greek independence.

 At this battle, the Albion suffered 10 killed and 50 wounded, including her second-in-command, Commander John Norman Campbell.

In 1847, the Admiralty awarded the Naval General Service Medal with the clasps "Algiers" and "Navarino."

In 1831, the Albion was hulked as a quarantine ship and broken up in1836.

--Brock-Perry

USS Congress-- Part 4: A Special Kind of Frigate

In 1785, Barbary pirates, mostly from Algiers in North Africa, began to seize American merchant ships in the Mediterranean.  In 1793 alone, eleven sere taken with their crews and cargoes held for ransom.    This caused the U.S. to pass the Naval Act of 1794. to provide funds for the construction of six frigates.  But in cost cutting, a clause was added that if a peace treaty was signed with Algiers that construction would be stopped.

Joshua Humphreys design was unusual for the time with a long keel and narrow beam and mounting heavy guns.The "ratings" or number of guns carried, was a bit of a misnomer as these frigates carried many different numbers of cannons.  The USS Congress was rated at 38 guns, but often carried as  many as 48.

The designs also gave these ships much heavier planking on their sides than was to be found on frigates at the time, meaning they could withstand broadsides better.  Humphreys design took into account that the U.S. Navy could not stand toe-to-toe with the European powers at the time, but could do well against other frigates.  They could, though, escape from the more powerful but slower ships of the line.

--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

U.S. Navy in War of 1812-- Part 5: Lack of Interest in the U.S. Navy by the Government

In the year before the war, the government and Navy Department did little to prepare for it.  In a country where  many questioned the need or even dreaded  the existence of a standing military, the Navy Department was even afraid it would be done away with by the government.

Only months before the war, Congress began a slow, meager build up in preparation for it.

However, a few weeks after declaration, Congress approved $829,000  for purchasing, repairing and equipping captured enemy vessels.  But so much disinterest or outright opposition existed that Congress did not appropriate money to build ships until January 1813.  They then approved $2,500,000 for four ships of the line and six frigates.  This was 25% more than the entire Navy 1811 budget.

These warships would never see combat against the British.  Too late.

--Brock-Perry

U.S. Navy in War of 1812-- Part 4: Woefully Unprepared to Take on Britain

To say the U.S. Navy was in no shape to fight the British Navy is a huge understatement.  In 1812, the British Navy included 130 ships of the line mounting 60-120 guns and 600 frigates and smaller warships.

The U.S. Navy at the time had 7 frigates fit for the sea, 3 frigates needing repairs, 8 brigs, schooners or sloops, and 165 gunboats (of which 103 were in ordinary or in need of repairs).  The Navy was never large at any time and almost evaporated after hostilities ended with Tripoli in 1805.

Further cuts continued even after the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair and even up to 1810, despite worsening tensions with Britain.

Naval historian Charles O. Paullin described the shape of the U.S. Navy when war was declared being "unprepared in every essential means, instrument, and material of naval warfare.  It had no dry docks.  It had few ships.  With the exception of the naval establishment at Washington, the navy-yards were in a state of neglect and decay."

Thankfully for our Navy, Napoleon in France had the British attention, nor had they expected a declaration of war.    Of all the British ships, just one ship of the line, 7 frigates and a dozen smaller warships were operating out of the main base in Halifax, Canada.

--Brock-Perry

Dueling Frigates: Why Standard British Frigates Were No Match for U.S. "Super Frigates" Like the USS Constitution

From the New London County (Connecticut) Historical Society "Dueling Frigates."

Not only did Navy personnel on both sides during the War of 1812 engage in duels, but also there were times when a sea battle between two enemy frigates was actually more of a duel in itself.

******************************

BACKGROUND

With a fleet of just six frigates (including three 44 gun super frigates), five smaller sloops of war, two brigs and a motley collection of  small coastal (Jeffersonian Gunboats) defense vessels, the U.S. navy was in no way in a position to face off with the Royal Navy which had more than 600 active vessels, about 100 of which were 74+ gun ships of the line.

Fleet actions characterized much of the fighting between the French and English,, U.S. ships went out singly or in small  squadrons to raid British commerce and engage single British ships when the opportunity arose.

--Brock-Perry

Not To Get the British Prince Regent Ships Confused

From Wikipedia.

There were two ships in the British service by the name of Prince Regent.  The one I mentioned in the last post was the Provincial Marine's Prince Regent which i will write about in the next post.

There was also another HMS Prince Regent.  This one was a Royal Navy ship and was launched in 18 46-60 guns.  It was built at Kingston, Upper Canada and took part in the raid on Fort Oswego.

It was later renamed HMS Kingston in 1814 and was sold in 1832.

--Brock-Perry

HMS St. Lawrence-- Part 6: The Proverbial "Big Fish In a Small Pond"

It took master shipbuilder John Dennis just ten months to build the St. Lawrence.  It took the British Navy six years to build the HMS Victory.

The sole purpose of the St. Lawrence's construction was to assert the Crown's naval superiority on Lake Ontario.  Both the United States and Britain realized that whoever controlled the water would control the war.

As such, both sides "embarked on a naval arms race."  This took place both on Lake Ontario (and Lake Champlain) as well as Lake Erie.

Building warships is difficult at best, but doing it in areas considered to be frontier and isolated was a much bigger task.

This was true especially of the St. Lawrence.

And, the Americans were also building frigates and even had two ships of the line under construction as well.

--Brock-Perry

HMS St. Lawrence-- Part 5: "The Mightiest Ship To Never Sail the Seas"

From Military History Now.


This site refers to the HMS St. Lawrence as "The Mightiest Ship To Never Sail the Seas."   That would refer to the fact that the ship never sailed in an ocean.

The St. Lawrence was a ship of the line, the most powerful warship during the Age of Sail.  She was five feet longer than Horatio Nelson's more famous HMS Victory and two feet wider.  It mounted 112 cannons, eight more than the Victory.

It was built, launched and served its whole short career on a fresh water lake, Lake Ontario.

It was the proverbial "Big Fish in a Small Pond."

--Brock-Perry

HMS St. Lawrence-- Part 1: "Monster" Ship of the Lake

From Wikipedia.

Since I am on the subject of shipwrecks off Kingston, Ontario, on Lake Ontario, I will now turn attention to the "Monster" ship of the lake, the HMS St. Lawrence.

Stats:  2,304 tons, 184'2" length, 52'7" beam.  Crew of 700.  Mounted 112 guns:  thirty-two 32-pdrs. carronade, thirty-six 24-pdr. long guns, twenty-eight 32-pdr. long guns.

It was the only Royal Navy ship of the line ever launched on the Great Lakes.  Its arrival ended all naval action on Lake Ontario as the American fleet dared not challenge it.  Britain had won the naval arms race.

As powerful as it was, the St. Lawrence never went into battle.  It was laid up after the war and finally sold in 1832 to private interests and later sunk and is now a popular dive site.

--Brock-Perry

Did the Cape Fear Region Play Any Significant Role in the War of 1812?

From the April 30, 2010, Wilmington (NC) Star-News "My Reporter" by Meston Vanoe.

No battles were fought in North Carolina, but the British did occupy Ocracoke and Portsmouth islands in the Outer Banks from July 12-16, 1813.  This scared the state and the militia was called out, some going to Wilmington.

Johnston Blakely was a naval hero from Wilmington who commanded the sloop USS Wasp that captured the HMS Reindeer

Captain Otway Burns was from Onslow County and was a leading privateer.  he is buried in Beaufort in a tomb topped with cannons from his ship, the Snap Dragon.  His desk and a model of his ship are at the North Carolina Maritime Museum.

Brunswick County raised a company of volunteers for the North Carolina Militia.

After the war, the government increased the size of the Navy.  Seven ships-of-the-line, the most powerful ships of their day, were built.  One was the USS North Carolina which was launched in 1820 and commissioned in 1824.

--Brock-Perry

Henry Eckford-- Part 4: Warships and Shipbuilding Race

Henry Eckford and the Browns, Adam and Noah, were responsible for all American ships built on the Great Lakes during the War of 1812.  At Sackets Harbor, some merchant ships were converted into warships with the addition of cannons.

Other warships built were the 89-ton USS Lady of the Lake in 1813 and the never-finished 3,200-ton, 106-gun ship-of-the-line USS New Orleans, the corvette USS General Pike in 1813 and the frigate USS Superior in 1814.

Eckford and others knew that the key to defeating the British Navy on the Great Lakes was to build more ships than them.  Some of the ships were partially built in New York and the pre-fabricated pieces sent to Sackets Harbor for completion.

--Brock-Perry

HMS Crown

From Wikipedia.

The last entry had the Americans transferred to the Crown Prince.  I came across no listing for an HMS Crown Prince, but there was one for an HMS Crown, which most likely was the one they were on.

It was launched 15 Match 1782 at Blackwell Yard and was a 54-gun, 160-foot 3rd rate ship-of-the-line.  It became a prison ship in 1798 and was broken up in 1816.

It was a prison ship in 1798, a powder hull from 1802-1806 then a prison ship in 1806 before being put into ordinary in 1815.  Broken up in 1816.

--GreGen

200 Years Ago: End of the "Shipbuilders' War"

I would have written about this yesterday, but we had no internet after the storms of Thursday.

American Commodore Isaac Chauncey and General Jacob Brown visit Kingston, Upper Canada.  They visit Commodore Sir Edward Campbell Rich Owen at the site of Britain's main naval establishment on the Great Lakes and home port of the Lake Ontario Squadron.

The trip cumulated with a social gathering aboard the British flagship, the ship-of-the-line HMS St. Lawrence after which Chauncey was honored with a 13-gun salute.

The event symbolized the end of the "Shipbuilders' War" on Lake Ontario and presaged the demilitarization of the Great Lakes formalized by the 1817 Rush-Bagot Agreement which continues to this day.

--Brock-Perry

HMS Cornwallis-- Part 1: Built of Teak in India

From Wikipedia.

The USS Hornet came close to being captured in April 1815 by the HMS Cornwallis.

The HMS Cornwallis was a third rate ship-of-the line carrying 74 cannons.  Launched 12 May 1813 in Bombay, India, and built of teak.  Its construction was delayed earlier in the War of 1812 when HMS Java, which had been carrying copper sheathing from England, was captured by the USS Constitution.

On 27 April 1815, it engaged the sloop USS Hornet which had mistaken it for a merchant ship.  Heavily outgunned, the Hornet was forced to make a run for it and had to thrown its cannons and much more  overboard, but it did manage to get away.

That was a very uneven battle and bad mistake for the Hornet to make.  A sloop should never take on a ship-of-the-line.

Oops!  --Brock-Perry

Update on Sandwich, Massachusetts: Sir Thomas Hardy and HMS Ramilles

The Commodore Harty referred to on Tuesday was most likely Sir Thomas Hardy (1769-1839) who served off the New England coast during the War of 1812.  He fought in the Napoleonic Wars and was at the battle of Trafalgar with Nelson before being sent to North America.

A 74-gun British warship was considered a 3rd Rate Ship-of-the-Line, not a frigate which usually didn't have more than 50 guns.

After Trafalgar, Hardy commanded the 3rd rate ship-of-the-line HMS Triumph and later the 3rd rate ship-of-the-line HMS Ramillies.  Most likely the ship off Sandwich was the Ramillies.

Hardy led the fleet that escorted the Army which captured significant portions of coastal Maine, then part of Massachusetts, including Fort Sullivan, Eastport, Machias, Bangor and Castine.

On 10 August 1814, a storming party from the Ramillies was defeated at Stonington Burrough.

--Brock-Perry

Royal Navy Dockyard at Point Frederick, Kingston-- Part 3: HMS St. Lawrence

A problem facing Yeo was getting supplies, equipment and reinforcements as they all had to come down the St. Lawrence River where they were exposed to American attack.

He had permission to build a large warship, but greatly increased its size until it became a ship-of-the-line, the HMS St. Lawrence.  Construction on it began April 12, 1814 and it became designated as a first rate ship-of-the-line since it mounted 100 guns and was crewed by 800 men.

Thousands of trees were needed.  Some 5,750 for the hull alone.  Pine and spruce were used for the masts and spars.  Then, there was need for a vast amount of sails and rope for rigging.

It cost $500,000 and was launched September 10, 1814, with a crew of 1837.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Launch of the HMS St. Lawrence

OCTOBER 10, 1814:  Kingston Navy Dockyard launched the 3-deck ship-of-the-line HMS St. Lawrence, but it was too late to see action during the war.  Well, it could have, but the Americans would not challenge it.

It was bigger than Nelson's HMS Victory and the largest sailing warship ever on fresh water.  It gave the British control of Lake Ontario.

--Brock-Perry

200 Years Ago: Ship of the Line HMS St. Lawrence Launched on Great Lakes

SEPTEMBER 9TH, 1814:  A British flotilla gathers near Chazy, New York, on Lake Champlain.  The pivotal Battle of Plattsburg was the two days later.

SEPTEMBER 10TH, 1814:  Launch of the ship of the line HMS St. Lawrence, the largest warship on the Great Lakes in the Age of Sail, at Kingston, Upper Canada.

The contest for supremacy on the Great Lakes continued to intensify as the British and American navies raced to construct the most powerful fleets.  Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo gained undisputed control of
Lake Ontario in October when he sailed out of Kingston in his new flagship, the HMS St. Lawrence, launched this day.

It was a three-decked warship mounting 102 cannons.  This was a viable counter to three U.S. ships being built at Sackets Harbor.

The St. Lawrence epitomized the "shipbuilders war" and the extraordinary logistical and financial investments by the British since almost all materials and ordnance used to build warships at Kingston came across the Atlantic Ocean from England to Quebec City and Montreal, Lower Canada.  From there, supplies were transported by bateaux up the St. Lawrence River.

--Brock-Perry

Battle Off Newport News Point-- Part 1

From the June 19, 2013, Hampton Roads (Va.) Daily Press "War of 1812: Gunboats attack off Newport News Point" by Mark St. John Erickson.

Just one British ship of the line with 74 guns in Chesapeake Bay and even that had more firepower than all the American batteries defending the Elizabeth River.  At peak strength, the British had nearly a dozen of these ships as well as frigates, sloops and smaller ships.  Altogether there were nearly 100 British warships for the Americans to fight.

The small American fleet had 20 gunboats and the 38-gun frigate USS Constellation.

The frigate HMS Junon, 38 guns, ran aground and, seeing a target of opportunity, 15 gunboats left the James River on the night of June 19, 1813, using oars.

The small gunboats were ordered by President Thomas Jefferson and modeled after the small North African gunboats that had captured the frigate USS Philadelphia off Tripoli in 1803.

--Brock-Perry