Oliver Hazard Perry & the Battle of Lake Erie-- Part 3:

At this time, President Thomas Jefferson decided to drastically reduce the Navy from 45 warships to 13 and 42 captains to 9 and  midshipmen from 350 to 150.  This became significant when a few years later, Congress declared war on Great Britain on June 8, 1812.

There wasn't much of a U.S. Navy.

When Perry requested and was granted a command on Lake Erie, he was tasked with building the very ships he needed to fight the British. Not only that, but he seriously lacked the manpower to build and man those ships.

Perry and his ships were underdogs when they went into battle against the British at the Battle of Lake Erie, but he wouldn't give up.

Even after Perry's flagship, the USS Lawrence, was damaged beyond  repair, he refused to strike his colors.

--Brock-Perry