William Bainbridge

William Bainbridge (1774-1833)

William Bainbridge (born May 7, 1774 in Princeton , New Jersey , † July 27, 1833 in Philadelphia ) was a Commodore in the United States Navy , best known for his victory over the HMS Java in the British-American War .

Cadet Bainbridge

He became a cadet at the age of 15 . He quickly developed as a seaman and a leader, after which William Bainbridge was given command of his first ship, the USS Hope , in late 1793. With this ship he undertook many trade trips to European ports, mostly Bordeaux , as well as to the West Indies .

After troubles with France and with the Berber pirates, the US Navy was launched and Bainbridge was promoted to the rank of lieutenant . He was given command of the USS Retaliation . With this ship, Bainbridge secured merchant shipping in the Caribbean Sea. On November 20, 1798, the USS Retaliation discovered the two French frigates L'Insurgente and Volontaire , but their combined firepower forced him to give up. During his imprisonment in Guadeloupe , Bainbridge did everything in his power to defend and protect the interests of his fellow prisoners . He was later authorized to sail home with the Retaliation with all other Americans.

Upon his return home, he was made Commander in Chief and was given command of the USS Norfolk , one of the ships he had saved from being seized by the French. Bainbridge joined the squadron of Commodore Thomas Tingey on May 24, 1799 with his ship in the waters around the Leeward Islands . On June 5th he brought up a 14-gun privateer and forced it to surrender, even though a gust of wind had torn down two top masts.

After repairs in St. Kitts, the USS Norfolk crossed with the USS Ganges and helped the flagship land the privateer Vainqueur . In late July, Norfolk and Retaliation were protecting a large convoy of merchant ships . After a French frigate discovered the convoy, Bainbridge and his ships managed to push the frigate away from the convoy. The convoy continued its journey and arrived in New York on August 12 with only one loss of ship.

In September Bainbridge took up the fight against privateers around Hispaniola. Yet his was Brigg early forerunner of the First World War, used Q-ships . On October 30th, the brig acted as a defenseless merchant ship. A barque spotted her, and as she got closer, she came under fire. Unfortunately, the wind slackened and Bainbridge had to break off the chase.

Some time later, the frigate USS Norfolk merged with the frigate USS Boston . On November 7th, they caught a French sloop. Norfolk then sailed to Cuba on patrol trips. On February 20, 1800, she chased the French schooner Beauty into shallow waters, where the American brig could not follow. Bainbridge then used his cannons so effectively that he could smash the pirate into pieces. This action had a big impact on American trade. Then she kept the waters around Cuba free of enemy warships until she accompanied a convoy of 23 merchant ships home.

Captain Bainbridge

The convoy reached Philadelphia on April 12, 1800, and a little over a month later Bainbridge, who was just 25 years old, was promoted to captain . The Mortfontaine Agreement ended hostilities with France .

The Berber pirates had held supremacy in the Mediterranean for a long time and demanded money from ships of all nations that wanted to cross their territorial waters . With the converted merchant ship George Washington , which carried 32 cannons, Bainbridge was tasked with bringing the payments for the year 1800 to the Dey of Algiers . After the money was handed over, Bainbridge made preparations to drive home. He was surprised by the Dey's instructions that he should do a special assignment for the Sultan of Constantinople . He accepted this assignment only in protest. He made many friends with the Sultan and received a letter of protection from the Kapudan Pasha , which allowed him to free many enslaved Americans from slavery and bring them home. Upon his return, Bainbridge took command of the frigate USS Essex and sailed back into the Mediterranean with the squadron of Commodore Captain Dale . He reached Gibraltar on July 1, 1801 and secured American trade in the Mediterranean until his return in 1802.

The first command

Bainbridge was given command of the frigate USS Philadelphia and returned to the Mediterranean to join the squadron of Commodore Edward Preble , who was conducting an operation against Tripoli . Shortly after he reached Gibraltar on August 24, 1803, he hunted two privateers near Cape de Gata on the Spanish coast. Two days later, Bainbridge intercepted the Moroccan ship Mirboka.

The USS Philadelphia, accompanied by the schooner USS Vixen , escorted American merchant ships to the southeastern coast of Spain and drove via the intermediate station Malta to Tripoli in order to establish a blockade there. Shortly after arrival, Bainbridge released the schooner Vixen, which was supposed to chase two warships from Tripoli, which were on a pirate voyage against merchant ships. In the absence of the Vixen, the USS Philadelphia ran aground in the port of Tripoli on October 31, 1803 while she was chasing two privateers. All attempts to get the Philadelphia afloat again failed. Worse still, their cannons failed to fire at the attacking gunboats from Tripoli, which in turn began firing at the frigate. Unable to defend his ship or flee, Bainbridge gave up.

Commodore Bainbridge

19 months later, in 1805, Bainbridge was released and stationed at the New York Navy Yard . Financially at the end, he resigned to join the Merchant Navy. He stayed there until 1808 when he was given command of the frigate USS President . Not only did he take command of the 44-cannon frigate, he also used it for the first time as a commodore's stand. Bainbridge kept this command until 1810, when he went back to the merchant navy.

In the merchant navy

In 1811 it looked like he would have to stay in the merchant navy for longer. At that time, the conflict with France was still causing friction. When the Royal Navy ruled the seas again, they increasingly harassed US merchant shipping . So with every provocation a war with the motherland became more and more likely. When Bainbridge heard of the incident involving the USS President and the HMS Little Belt (50 miles from Cape Henry, Virginia ), he hurried home and offered his services in Washington, DC .

The British-American War

Bainbridge took his first major act in the War of 1812 when he met Commodore Stewart to work with him to enforce a more aggressive stance in naval warfare , contrary to President Madison's opinion . This campaign did not end entirely successfully to change the policy in naval warfare, but earned him an enduring reputation in the Navy in the form of his most spectacular single-ship victory.

Rather, Bainbridge himself later contributed to such a victory. He was stationed again in the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston in 1812. There he exonerated Isaac Hull as captain of the USS Constitution , after which Hull asked for a break from active duty and received this after his triumph over HMS Guerriere . As part of a small squadron consisting of the USS Constitution, USS Essex and USS Hornet , Bainbridge sailed his ship south to hunt down British ships while protecting American ships in the waters around Brazil . On December 29, 1812, he discovered the British frigate HMS Java near Bahia , Brazil.

Bainbridge cleared his ship for action and attacked straight away. A wild skirmish of sailing maneuvers and broadsides ensued , in which every frigate tried to reach the Crossing the T , Lord Nelson's legendary maneuver, without getting into this situation themselves. Bainbridge himself sustained two wounds from that fight, a sniper bullet hit him in the hip, and later he was splintered when a cannonball smashed the wheel. But he stayed at his post and continued to command his ship magnificently. With the emergency control alone, Bainbridge managed to gradually smash the HMS Java. The captain of the HMS Java had no choice but to paint the flag. The ship was so destroyed that Bainbridge only took over the crew on his ship and burned the HMS Java.

In February 1813, Bainbridge returned to Boston, where he spent the remainder of the war directing construction of the 74-gun ship of the line, the USS Independence . When the ship of the line set sail on July 3, 1815, it carried the pennant of Commodore Bainbridge, who then set out with his squadron into the Mediterranean to tame the Algerian pirates. When the Bainbridge squadron reached its destination, he learned that Commodore Decatur had already cleared up the situation, which both squadrons were supposed to do. So Bainbridge and his squadron took command of the American Mediterranean fleet, while Decatur drove home with his squadron.

The late years and death of William Bainbridge

He himself returned to Boston in November 1815. He carried his Commodore Pennant on the USS Independence for a little over four years. In April 1820 he put his pennant on the liner USS Columbus for his final voyage at sea. On this trip, too, the Mediterranean was his destination to protect American trade there. He returned to the United States in 1821 after failing to oust Isaac Hull from his post of Chairman of the Naval Commission. Bainbridge was appointed head of the naval base in Philadelphia. He held this post until 1831. Commodore Bainbridge died of pneumonia on July 27, 1833 and was buried in the Church in Philadelphia.

Naming

Several US Navy ships have been christened USS Bainbridge in his honor . The island of Bainbridge Island in Washington as well as Bainbridge (Ohio) and Bainbridge (Georgia) have been named after him.

literature

• Henry AS Dearborn : The Life of William Bainbridge, Esq., Of the United States Navy. Edited by James Barnes. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1931.
• David F. Long: Ready to Hazard. A Biography of Commodore William Bainbridge, 1774-1833. University Press of New England, Hanover NH 1981, ISBN 0-8357-0579-X .

Web links

Commons : William Bainbridge  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• William Bainbridge (English)