The USS
Philadelphia ran aground in 1803 on an uncharted reef
during the Barbary Wars and the ship and crew were taken captive. In February 1804, Stephen Decatur Jr. (1779-1820) led a dangerous mission to free the ship from Tripoli harbor, but ended up setting it on fire to prevent its use by the enemy.
Why did the US burn the USS Philadelphia?
The burning of the Philadelphia was the
result of a daring raid during the war against Tripoli
. Stephen Decatur secured for himself a reputation for valor that lasted for the rest of his life.
Who destroyed USS Philadelphia?
February 16, 1804: Burning of the Frigate Philadelphia. On February 16, 1804,
Lieutenant Stephen Decatur
, with 75 volunteers from the frigate Constitution and the schooner Enterprise entered Tripoli harbor by night in the ketch Intrepid with the intent to burn the captured frigate Philadelphia.
Where is USS Philadelphia?
USS Philadelphia may refer to: USS Philadelphia (1776) was a gunboat built in 1776 on
Lake Champlain
and sunk during the Battle of Valcour Island. USS Philadelphia (1799) was a 36-gun sailing frigate active in the Quasi-War, captured in the First Barbary War and later burned.
Who led the raid into Tripoli harbor to capture or destroy the USS Philadelphia?
After two years of minor confrontations, sustained action began in June 1803 when a small
U.S. expeditionary
force attacked Tripoli harbor in present-day Libya. In October 1803, the U.S. frigate Philadelphia ran aground near Tripoli and was captured by Tripolitan gunboats.
What is the oldest ship still afloat?
NRHP reference No.
USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides
, is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world’s oldest ship of any type still afloat.
How did the Americans recaptured the USS Philadelphia?
In 1803, with Captain William Bainbridge (1774-1833) of New Jersey in command, the USS Philadelphia recaptured an American warship from
a Moroccan vessel and blockaded Tripoli
. When the ship ran aground on an uncharted reef, Captain Bainbridge and the crew were taken captive.
Who stopped the Barbary pirates?
Following the Napoleonic Wars and the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15,
European powers
agreed upon the need to suppress the Barbary corsairs entirely. The threat was finally subdued by the French conquest of Algeria in 1830 and subsequent pacification by the French during the mid-to-late 19th Century.
Which Barbary Coast state declared War on the United States?
First Barbary War, also called Tripolitan War, (1801–05), conflict between the United States and
Tripoli
(now in Libya), incited by American refusal to continue payment of tribute to the piratical rulers of the North African Barbary States of Algiers, Tunis, Morocco, and Tripoli.
What happened to the USS Chesapeake?
On
22 June 1807 she was fired upon by HMS Leopard of the Royal Navy for refusing to allow a search for deserters
. The event, now known as the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, angered the American public and government and was a precipitating factor that led to the War of 1812.
What does USS stand for?
The prefix “USS,” meaning “
United States Ship
,” is used in official documents to identify a commissioned ship of the Navy. It applies to a ship while she is in commission. Before commissioning, or after decommissioning, she is referred to by name, with no prefix.
What type of ship was the USS Pittsburgh?
USS Pittsburgh is an
American heavy cruiser of the Baltimore-class
which entered service with the U.S. Navy in the final years of WWII.
Who designed the turtle America’s first submarine?
David Bushnell
, an American inventor, began building underwater mines while a student at Yale University. Deciding that a submarine would be the best means of delivering his mines in warfare, he built an eight-foot-long wooden submersible that was christened the Turtle for its shape.
What President handled the Barbary pirates?
Years later in 1815,
President James Madison
sent the navy to the Barbary Coast once again. (The phrase “to the shores of Tripoli” from the Marine Hymn refers to this historic battle.) Madison eventually declared victory against the pirates in his Seventh Annual Message to Congress.
Where was the USS Philadelphia captured and grounded?
Philadelphia was pulled off by her captors and taken to
Tripoli harbor
, where she represented not just a humiliating defeat, but also a potentially serious threat to American warships and commercial shipping in the Mediterranean sea.
What was considered the most bold and daring act of the age?
Hortatio Nelson, himself one of naval history’s boldest actors, called
the burning of the frigate Philadelphia
by the United States Navy in 1804 “the most bold and daring act of the age.” It is one of the classic examples of a naval raid, a cutting-out action intended to deprive the enemy of a ship.
