USS President (1800)
 The USS President (left) takes the HMS Little Belt under fire
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The USS President was a heavy frigate of the United States Navy with (nominally) 44 guns, which was used in the First Barbarian War and the British-American War . It was captured by the British in 1815 , taken over as HMS President in the Royal Navy and scrapped in 1818.
History of the ship
The President was one of the first six frigates in the US Navy, and with her two sister ships the USS Constitution and the USS United States it was a new type of large frigate that had more and more powerful guns than most of the frigates built up to that point. While the European standard frigates usually had around 26 18-pounder cannons in their main battery, the large US frigates had 30 24-pounders instead. The President was considered the best sailing ship of the three heavy US frigates of the class. Designed by Joshua Humphreys, Josiah Fox and William Doughty, the ship was nominally referred to as the "44 gun frigate" but actually carried over 50 guns. It was launched on April 10, 1800 at Christian Bergh's shipyard on the East River in New York . The first in command was Thomas Truxton.
The frigate was the flagship of Commodore Richard Dale in the Mediterranean 1801/02, where she protected American merchant ships against attacks by the Barbarians . In 1804/05 she was involved in the First Barbarian War, in which she blocked the port of Tripoli . From 1809 to 1812 she cruised the east coast of the United States .
After the British frigate HMS Guerriere had recruited a seaman from the American brig Spitfire off Sandy Hook , the frigate led by John Rodgers was seconded to patrol New York. Here she came across the British warship HMS Little Belt , a ship of 20 guns ( sixth rank ) , on May 16, 1811 . Early in the morning of the following day there was a 12 to 15 minute long gun battle. The exact circumstances are unclear due to the contradicting statements of the commanders: Both accused the other side of not identifying themselves and of having fired first. It is conceivable that Rodgers assumed he was facing the Guerriere and wanted to punish them for the forced recruitment. The President suffered only minor damage to the rigging and the wounding of one crew member, while the much smaller and more lightly armed Little Belt was badly damaged, 10 dead and 22 wounded, three of whom died. After the cessation of fire and the identification of the Little Belt , Rodgers offered help to the British, but they refused. The battered ship made it to Halifax with difficulty and was withdrawn that same year because the damage was so severe that it was no longer worth repairing. The incident attracted much attention in both Great Britain and the United States, and in the latter it was largely viewed as a justified act or retaliation for the Chesapeake Leopard Incident . Although the British saw the attack as unjustified aggression, there were no reprisals, probably because they did not want to worsen the already heavily strained relations with the United States. An investigation into the incident by American naval officers, requested by Rodgers, confirmed his account on all points.
After the outbreak of the War of 1812 with Great Britain, the President ran out on June 21, 1812 together with the USS Congress , USS Hornet , USS Argus and United States for an advance into the North Atlantic . On June 23, 1812, she encountered the British frigate HMS Belvidera , which escaped after an eight-hour hunt when one of the President's bow guns exploded, killing or wounding several crew members, including Rodgers, who broke his leg. After a stop in Boston , the President set sail again on October 3 and returned after an uneventful voyage on December 31.
On April 30, 1813, the frigate ran out for a further advance into the North Atlantic. On September 23, she forced the British schooner HMS Highflyer (5 cannons) to surrender off New York and entered Newport on September 27 . From here, the ship began a voyage to the Caribbean on December 4 , from which it returned to New York in February 1814. The blockade by a superior British naval force forced the crew to stay in port for a year.
After the British association had been driven from its blockade position by a snowstorm, the President ran under the command of Captain Stephen Decatur junior from New York on January 14, 1815, but stranded on a sandbank near Sandy Hook because the pilot due to bad weather lost orientation. Decatur got the ship free again, but the keel was broken and the rudder badly damaged. Due to adverse winds, New York could not be approached. On the morning of January 15, the frigate encountered the British blockade squadron from Razee HMS Majestic (54 cannons) and the frigates HMS Endymion (40 cannons), HMS Pomone and HMS Tenedos (both 38 cannons). After a lengthy chase, the Endymion managed to catch up with the President and fire several broadsides in the stern, causing considerable damage and losses among the crew. The Americans could not fire back without changing course and thus reducing the chances of escape, which is why Decatur held course and did not answer the fire of the enemy frigate. After half an hour, however, the losses and damage became so severe that Decatur was forced to take up the fight. It was possible to severely damage the lighter and armed Endymion and to force it to turn, but at around 11 p.m. the President was overtaken by the Pomone , which fired two precise and effective broadsides into the American ship. Since the Tenedos also came closer and an escape was impossible, Decatur dropped the flag and surrendered to the British. Its crew had 35 dead and 70 wounded.
The conquest of the American frigate was an important success for the British, who thus brought one of the over-heavy American frigates into their hands. The President was brought to Bermuda with considerable difficulty (she was completely dismasted two days after the battle by a squall) and accepted into the Royal Navy as a prize . But it was too badly damaged in substance by the ground contact preceding the battle to be made ready for sea again. It was measured and scrapped in Portsmouth in 1818 , as it was no longer worth repairs due to its rotten wood. After the lines were removed, a new frigate of the same name was built. For the British, the reason for the copy was mainly to continue to have a President as a replacement for the non-preserved war trophy.
literature
- David Lyon: Sailing Navy List . Conway Maritime Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-85177-864-X
- Donald Canney: Sailing Warships of the US Navy . Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD 2001.
- Rif Winfield: British Warships in the Age of Sail 1793-1817 . Chatham Publishing, London 2005.
Web links
- Ships of the World: An Historical Encyclopedia - USS President
- Joseph C. Mosier: “What Ship is That?” The President - Little Belt Incident
Footnotes
- ↑ Armament at the beginning of service around 1800. See Donald Canney: Sailing Warships of the US Navy , p. 39. The 12 pounders of the upper battery were later replaced by carronades .
- ↑ See Gardiner: Frigates of the Napolenic Wars , p. 97. The Americans proceeded with one of their propagandistically significant booty ships in the same way when the formerly British frigate HMS Macedonian , captured in 1812, had to be scrapped. It was replaced by a similar new building in 1833, which in addition to the name still took over a few parts of the original, including the figurehead. See Donald Canney, Sailing Warships of the US Navy, p. 80.