USS President (1800) facts for kids
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|} The USS President was a large sailing warship of the United States Navy. It was a heavy frigate, which means it was bigger and had more guns than most other frigates of its time. The ship was built with a wooden body and had three tall masts for its sails. It was launched in April 1800 from New York City.
President was one of the first six frigates ever built for the U.S. Navy. These ships were designed to be the most powerful ships in the young navy. They were stronger and faster than typical frigates. The ship was named "President" to honor the President of the United States.
Its first jobs were to protect American merchant ships during a conflict with France, called the Quasi War, and to fight against pirates in the First Barbary War. Later, in 1811, President was involved in an accidental fight with a British ship, HMS Little Belt. This event made things even more tense between the U.S. and Great Britain, leading to the War of 1812.
During the War of 1812, President sailed far from home, even reaching the English Channel and Norway. It captured several enemy merchant ships and a British warship. In January 1815, after being trapped in New York by British ships for a year, President tried to escape. It was chased and damaged by the British frigate HMS Endymion. Soon after, a British squadron captured President. The British Navy then used it as HMS President until it was taken apart in 1818.
Contents
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States |
|
| Name | USS President |
| Namesake | President of the United States |
| Ordered | 27 March 1794 |
| Builder | Initially Forman Cheesman; later Christian Bergh |
| Cost | $220,910 |
| Laid down | 1798 |
| Launched | 10 April 1800 |
| Maiden voyage | 5 August 1800 |
| Captured | 15 January 1815 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | 44-gun Frigate |
| Tonnage | 1,576 tons |
| Length | 175 ft (53 m) between perpendiculars |
| Beam | 44 ft 4 in (13.51 m) |
| Decks | Orlop, Berth, Gun, Spar |
| Propulsion | Sail |
| Armament |
|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS President |
| Acquired | 15 January 1815 |
| Fate | Broken up, 1818 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type |
|
| Tons burthen | 1533 7⁄94 (bm) |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 44 ft 4 in (13.5 m) |
| Depth of hold | 13 ft 11 in (4.2 m) |
| Armament |
|
Building a Powerful Ship
The United States needed strong ships in the 1790s. American merchant ships were being attacked by pirates in the Mediterranean Sea, especially from Algiers. To stop this, the U.S. Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794. This law provided money to build six frigates. However, it also said that if the U.S. made peace with Algiers, the ship building would stop.
Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be very special. They were long and not too wide, which allowed them to carry very heavy guns. The ships were built with extra strong wood to prevent them from bending or warping. This made their bodies much stronger than other frigates. Humphreys knew that the new U.S. Navy could not build as many ships as European navies. So, he designed his frigates to be strong enough to beat other frigates, but also fast enough to escape from bigger warships called ships of the line.
George Washington chose the name President to represent an important idea of the United States Constitution. In March 1796, before President could even be started, the U.S. made a peace deal with Algiers. So, building the ship stopped, as the law required. But in 1798, when the Quasi-War with France began, money was approved to finish the ship. Its construction started in a shipyard in New York City. Forman Cheeseman was the first builder, and Captain Silas Talbot was in charge.
As other sister ships like Constitution and United States were being built, Humphreys learned new things. He told Cheeseman to make some changes to President's design. These changes included raising the gun deck slightly and moving the main mast a bit further back. President was built to be about 175 feet (53 meters) long and 44.4 feet (13.5 meters) wide.
Even though construction started with Forman Cheeseman, work stopped in 1796. It began again in 1798, with Christian Bergh and William Doughty taking over.
Ship's Guns
President was officially called a "44-gun ship." However, it usually carried more than 50 guns. During the War of 1812, President had 55 guns. These included thirty-two 24-pounder cannons, twenty-two 42-pounder carronades (which are shorter, lighter cannons), and one 18-pounder long gun.
When the British Navy took over President and renamed it HMS President, it was first rated as a 50-gun ship. But it actually had 60 cannons! These included thirty 24-pounder guns on the upper deck, twenty-eight 42-pounder carronades on the spar deck, and two more 24-pounder guns at the front. In 1817, it was officially re-rated to 60 guns.
Unlike modern navy ships, old sailing ships did not have a fixed set of guns. Guns could be moved between ships as needed. Each captain could choose the weapons for their ship. They considered things like how much cargo they had, how many sailors were on board, and where they planned to sail. Because of this, a ship's weapons often changed, and detailed records were not always kept.
Early Wars: Quasi-War and Barbary Wars
President was launched on April 10, 1800. It was the last of the first six frigates to be finished. After getting ready, it sailed to Guadeloupe on August 5, with Captain Thomas Truxtun in charge. During the end of the Quasi-War, it sailed on regular patrols. It also recaptured several American merchant ships that had been taken by the French. Its service during this time was quiet. It returned to the U.S. in March 1801, after a peace treaty with France was signed.
Before 1801, the United States paid money to the Barbary States (countries in North Africa) to stop them from attacking American merchant ships. In 1801, the ruler of Tripoli, Yusuf Karamanli, was not happy with the amount of money he was getting. He demanded a large payment right away. Thomas Jefferson, the U.S. President, sent warships to protect American ships in the Mediterranean and to make peace.
In May, Commodore Richard Dale chose President as his main ship for this mission. Dale's orders were to show the strength of the U.S. Navy near Algiers, Tripoli, and Tunis. He also had to keep peace by promising payments. If any Barbary State declared war, Dale could start fighting. Dale's group of ships included President, Philadelphia, Essex, and Enterprise. They arrived in Gibraltar on July 1. President and Enterprise quickly went to Algiers. Their presence there convinced the ruler to stop threatening American merchant ships. President and Enterprise then visited Tunis and Tripoli. After that, President went to Malta on August 16 to get more drinking water.
On August 24, while blocking the harbor of Tripoli, President captured a Greek ship with Tripolitan soldiers on board. Dale arranged an exchange of prisoners, which freed several Americans held captive in Tripoli. President arrived back in Gibraltar on September 3. In early December, near Mahón, President hit a large rock while sailing. Captain Dale guided the ship out of danger. An inspection showed that a small part of its keel was broken. President stayed in the Mediterranean until March 1802. It then sailed back to the United States, arriving on April 14.
Even though President stayed in the U.S., the fighting against the Barbary States continued. Other groups of ships were sent. In April 1804, President Jefferson decided to send more ships to help. President, Congress, Constellation, and Essex got ready to sail under Commodore Samuel Barron. Barron chose President as his main ship. But it needed a new bowsprit (a large pole at the front of the ship) and repairs to its masts. It took about two months for the ships to be ready. They left in late June and arrived in Gibraltar on August 12.
President left Gibraltar on August 16 with Constellation. The frigates stopped at Malta before arriving off Tripoli on September 10. They joined Constitution, Argus, and Vixen. They saw three ships trying to get past the blockade of Tripoli. As the squadron chased them, a sudden change in wind caused President to crash into Constitution. The crash badly damaged Constitution's back, front, and figurehead. Two of the captured ships were sent to Malta with Constitution. President sailed to Syracuse, Sicily, arriving on August 27.
When Barron arrived, he was the highest-ranking officer, so he took command. But soon after, Barron became sick and stayed in bed in Syracuse. Under Captain George Cox, President began its regular job of blocking Tripoli's harbor during the winter of 1804–05. In late April 1805, Constitution captured three ships near Tripoli. President took them to Malta before rejoining Constitution.
Barron's poor health meant he had to resign. He gave command to John Rodgers in late May 1805. Barron told Cox to command Essex, and gave President to his brother, James Barron, on May 29. On June 3, after the Battle of Derne, the U.S. signed a peace treaty with Tripoli. President sailed back to the United States on July 13. It carried the sick Barron and many sailors who had been freed from being prisoners in Tripoli.
The Little Belt Incident
In 1807, an event called the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair made tensions between the United States and Britain even higher. To get ready for more fighting, Congress started approving money for the navy. President was put back into service in 1809 under Commodore John Rodgers. It went on regular patrols, mostly along the U.S. east coast.
On May 1, 1811, the British frigate HMS Guerriere stopped an American ship called Spitfire near New York. The British took an American sailor from the Spitfire to force him into their navy. This was called impressment.
Rodgers was ordered to find Guerriere. President sailed from Fort Severn on May 10. On May 16, about 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Cape Henry, a sailor saw a ship in the distance. Rodgers got closer to investigate and saw it was a warship. He raised signal flags to show who his ship was. The other ship, which was later found to be HMS Little Belt (a smaller 20-gun ship), also raised flags. But President's crew did not understand them. Little Belt sailed south, and Rodgers, thinking it was Guerriere, chased it.
It got dark before the ships were close enough to talk. Rodgers called out twice, but the same question came back: "What ship is that?" Rodgers said that right after this, Little Belt fired a shot that went through President's ropes. Rodgers fired back. Little Belt quickly fired three guns, then a full broadside (all the guns on one side). Rodgers told his gun crews to fire as much as they wanted. Several accurate broadsides from President badly damaged Little Belt. After five minutes of firing, President's crew realized the other ship was much smaller than a frigate. Rodgers ordered them to stop firing. However, Little Belt fired again, and President answered with more broadsides. After Little Belt became silent, President waited nearby overnight. At dawn, it was clear that Little Belt was very damaged. Rodgers sent a boat from President to offer help with repairs. Its captain, Arthur Bingham, saw the damage but refused help. He sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia. President had one sailor slightly hurt, while Little Belt had 31 sailors killed or wounded.
When President returned to port, the U.S. Navy investigated the incident. They gathered statements from President's officers and crew. They decided that Little Belt had fired the first shot. In the British Navy's investigation, Captain Bingham insisted that President had fired first and kept firing for 45 minutes, not the five minutes Rodgers claimed. In all later reports, both captains kept saying the other ship fired first. Since they could not agree, the American and British governments quietly dropped the matter.
The War of 1812
The United States declared war against Britain on June 18, 1812. Three days later, Commodore Rodgers sailed from New York City. He was on President, leading a group of ships including United States, Congress, Hornet, and Argus. They went on a 70-day trip in the North Atlantic. An American merchant ship told Rodgers about a group of British merchant ships heading to Britain from Jamaica. Rodgers and his ships chased them. On June 23, they found what turned out to be HMS Belvidera. President chased the ship. In what is known as the first shot of the War of 1812, Rodgers himself aimed and fired a bowchaser (a gun at the front of the ship) at Belvidera. It hit her rudder and went into the gun room. When President fired its fourth shot at Belvidera, a cannon on the deck below Rodgers exploded. This killed or wounded 16 sailors and threw Rodgers to the deck, breaking his leg.
The confusion allowed Belvidera to fire its stern chasers (guns at the back), killing six more men on President. Rodgers kept chasing, using his bow chasers to badly damage Belvidera's ropes and sails. But his two broadsides did little harm. Belvidera's crew quickly fixed their ropes. They cut loose their anchors and boats and threw drinking water overboard to make the ship lighter. This made it faster. Belvidera soon gained enough speed to get away from President, and Rodgers stopped the chase. Belvidera sailed to Halifax to share the news that war had begun.
President and its group of ships went back to chasing the Jamaican fleet. On July 1, they started following the trail of coconut shells and orange peels the Jamaicans had left behind. President sailed to within a day's journey of the English Channel, but never saw the ships. Rodgers called off the chase on July 13. On their way back to Boston, Rodgers' ships captured seven merchant ships and recaptured one American ship.
After some repairs, President, still under Rodgers, sailed on October 8 with Congress, United States, and Argus. On October 12, United States and Argus left the group for their own patrols. On October 10, President chased HMS Nymphe, but could not catch her. On October 17, President captured the British mail ship Swallow, which had a lot of money on board. On October 31, President and Congress began chasing HMS Galatea, which was protecting two merchant ships. The chase lasted about three hours. During that time, Congress captured the merchant ship Argo. Meanwhile, President kept after Galatea and got very close, but lost sight of her in the night. Congress and President stayed together, but did not find any more ships to capture in November. They returned to the United States, sailing north of Bermuda and heading toward the Virginia Capes. They arrived in Boston on December 31, having taken nine prizes. President and Congress were then trapped there by the British Navy until April 1813.
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On April 30, President and Congress sailed past the blockade for their third trip of the war. On May 2, they chased HMS Curlew, but she was faster and escaped. President separated from Congress on May 8. Rodgers then sailed along the Gulf Stream to look for merchant ships to capture. By June, not having found any ships, President turned north. It stopped in North Bergen, Norway, on June 27 to get more drinking water. Sailing soon after, President captured two British merchant ships, which helped restock its supplies. On June 10, President captured the British mail ship Duke of Montrose. The British crew managed to throw their mail overboard before President could send a crew to take over the ship. President then used Duke of Montrose to send all of President's prisoners to Falmouth, England, under the command of an American officer. When Duke of Montrose arrived, the British government said they would not accept this agreement.
Around the same time, two British Navy ships appeared. President set all sails to escape and outran them in a chase that lasted 80 hours. Rodgers said he decided to run because he thought the ships were a ship of the line and a frigate. British Navy records later showed that the ships were actually the 32-gun frigate Alexandria and the 16-gun fireship Spitfire.
After spending a few days near the Irish Channel, President captured several more merchant ships. It then set a course for the United States. In late September, it met HMS Highflyer along the east coast of the U.S. Rodgers used his signal flags to trick Highflyer into thinking President was HMS Tenedos. Lieutenant George Hutchinson, Highflyer's captain, came aboard President only to find he had walked into a trap. President captured Highflyer without firing a shot. President's long trip resulted in capturing 11 merchant ships, plus Highflyer.
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On December 4, 1813, President sailed from Providence, Rhode Island. On the 25th, it met two frigates in the dark, one of which fired at it. Rodgers thought they were British ships, but they were two French frigates, Méduse and Nymphe. Afterward, Rodgers headed toward Barbados for an eight-week trip in the West Indies. It reportedly captured three small ships, including the British merchant ships Wanderer (captured and sunk on January 4, 1814) and Edward (captured and sunk on January 9). Returning to New York City on February 18, 1814, President met HMS Loire. Loire turned to escape once its crew realized President was a 44-gun frigate. President stayed in New York for the rest of 1814 because a British group of ships, including HMS Endymion, Majestic, Pomone, and Tenedos, were blocking the harbor.
The Capture of President
Stephen Decatur took command of President in December 1814. He planned a trip to the West Indies to attack British shipping. In mid-January 1815, a snowy storm with strong winds forced the British ships blocking New York Harbor away. This gave Decatur a chance to sail out to sea. On the evening of January 14, President left the harbor but ran aground (hit the bottom). This happened because the harbor pilots had marked the safe path incorrectly. Stuck on the sand bar, President moved up and down with the incoming tide. Within two hours, its body was damaged, its wood twisted, and its masts bent. Damage to its keel (the bottom part of the ship) caused the ship to bend and sag. Decatur was finally able to get President off the sand bar. After seeing the damage, he decided to return to New York for repairs. However, the wind was not right, and President was forced to head out to sea.
Decatur did not know exactly where the British ships were. He set a course to avoid them and find a safe port. But about two hours later, the sails of the British ships were seen in the distance. President changed course to outrun them, but the damage from the night before had made it much slower. To gain speed, Decatur ordered things that were not needed to be thrown overboard. By late afternoon on January 15, HMS Endymion under Captain Henry Hope came alongside and started firing its guns. Decatur planned to get President very close to Endymion. Then, President's crew could board and capture the enemy ship and sail it to New York. (President would then be sunk to prevent its own capture).
Decatur tried several times to get close to Endymion. But he found that President's damage made it hard to steer. This allowed Endymion to guess his moves and stay away from good boarding positions. Faced with this problem, Decatur ordered special shots (like bar and chain shot) to be fired. These were meant to disable Endymion's sails and ropes. The idea was to shake off his pursuer and allow President to reach a safe port without being followed. At noon, Endymion, being a much faster ship, was sailing directly into the wind, outpacing its group of ships and leaving them behind. At 2 p.m., it caught up to President and took a position behind the American ship, shooting into President as it tried to escape. Endymion was able to fire into President three times and caused a lot of damage. In contrast, President mainly aimed its fire at Endymion's ropes and sails to slow it down during the two-hour fight.
Finally, at 7:58 p.m., President stopped firing and raised a light in its ropes, showing that it had surrendered. Endymion stopped firing on the defeated American ship. But it did not board to take control of its prize because it did not have any undamaged boats. Endymion's front sails had been damaged in the fight. While it stopped to make repairs, Decatur took advantage of the situation. Even though he had surrendered, he tried to escape at 8:30 p.m. Endymion quickly finished repairs and started chasing again at 8:52 p.m.
President pulled away while its crew quickly made their own repairs. Within two hours, one of its lookouts saw the rest of the enemy ships getting closer. President continued its escape attempt. But by nightfall, HMS Pomone and Tenedos had caught up and began firing their guns. Realizing his situation, Decatur surrendered President again, just before midnight.
HMS President
Now that the British Navy had President, it and its crew were ordered to sail to Bermuda with Endymion. During the trip, they faced a dangerous storm. The storm destroyed President's masts. It also strained Endymion's wood so badly that all the guns on the upper deck had to be thrown overboard to stop it from sinking. A ship called Clarendon brought 400 prisoners from President from Bermuda back to New York. On April 7, 1815, Clarendon ran aground at Sandy Hook. But all the crew, passengers, and prisoners were saved.
When the prisoners returned to the United States, a U.S. Navy court decided that Decatur, his officers, and his men had done nothing wrong in surrendering President.
President and Endymion continued to England, arriving at Spithead on March 28. President was officially added to the British Royal Navy under the name HMS President. It was first rated as a 50-gun ship. But at this time, it had 60 cannons: thirty 24-pounders on the upper deck, twenty-eight 42-pounder carronades on the spar deck, plus two more 24-pounder guns at the front. In February 1817, it was re-rated again, this time to 60 guns.
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In March 1818, the British considered repairing it. But an inspection in a drydock showed that most of its wood was bad or rotten. So, it was taken apart at Portsmouth in June. The design of President was copied and used to build HMS President in 1829. However, this was more of a political move than a sign of how good the design was. The Royal Navy wanted to keep the name and look of the American ship in their records. This was a reminder to the United States and other countries that the ship had been captured.
