 outside the Virginia capes and the year 1807. An American frigate, the Chesapeake, has been fired on and boarded. Four sailors are taken off the Chesapeake to the British ship Leopard and impressed into English naval service. Britain, at war with France, faced the conqueror of Europe, Napoleon Bonaparte. English ships hovered off American ports, ready to seize vessels and cargo destined for France. The United States was expanding westward. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 had doubled the size of the young republic. The Mississippi was now open to its mouth. Down the western rivers went the pioneers. But the British hold on the forts in the northwest territory gave them control of the lakes and of the Indians in the area. Naturally, the American frontiersmen wanted the British to get out. Their spokesman in Congress, the Warhawks, clamored for war. But on the eastern seaboard, far removed from frontier problems, there was less enthusiasm for war. In 1807, President Jefferson tried to avoid war by proclaiming an embargo. No foreign trade, no ships to leave our ports for overseas. This embargo was an economic catastrophe for America and was repealed in 1809. During May, 1811, occurred another incident off our coast, bringing us closer to war. In a night encounter, the British loop of war little belt exchanged shots with the American frigate president. War was declared the following year, 1812, June 18th. American strategy called for raiding hostile seaboard commerce and an offensive to invade and conquer Canada while protecting our own coast and borders from similar enemy action. The naval instruments for coast defense were harbor gunboats, which proved of limited value. And a United States fleet of 17 naval vessels, seven frigates and 10 smaller ships, as contrasted to the British Navy of some 600 vessels, including 124 ships of the line, mounting 60 or more guns, and 116 frigates of 30 to 60 guns each. Nevertheless, at the outset of war, the vastly outnumbered American Navy had several distinct advantages. First, the bulk of British naval strength was pinned down in European waters, blockading Napoleon. Second, America's frigates, designed by the master naval architect, Joshua Humphrey's, were larger and heavier gunned than the British frigates. They were excellent, fast sailors. And third, an advantage of the utmost importance, many of the naval commanders had been rigidly schooled under Commodore Preble in the war with Tripoli. The well-remembered successes of American naval captains against British commerce during the Revolutionary War led the small United States Navy of 1812 to challenge once again British command of the seas through commerce rating. In this, the Navy was joined by hundreds of American privateers, vessels licensed by the government to prey on enemy trade. During the first year of war, American squadrons made wide sweeps. Their prime targets were convoys from the West Indies to Europe. Commodore Rogers with the frigates, President and Congress, the frigate United States and Brig Argus under Decatur, Bainbridge with the Constitution and Slupov War Hornet all set out to strike the British merchant fleets. Deployment of these American naval squadrons diverted the British fleet in northern American waters from blockading United States ports to escorting merchant men and seeking out our commerce raiders. Off New Jersey, July 17 and 18, 1812, in one of the most dramatic incidents of the war, a British squadron including the frigates, Guerriere and Shannon moving south from Halifax almost captured the Constitution. Captain Isaac Hall by skillful catching narrowly escaped. In a dead calm with no help from the sails, anchors were repeatedly carried ahead in ship's boats, dropped and the Constitution hauled up to them. Resourcefulness saved the day. Just a month later on August 19, well out in the North Atlantic, the Constitution made her most famous fight. She again cited the Guerriere this time alone. Hall had the weather gauge. He approached to pass close under Guerriere's stern where he could pour out a raking broadside. But the English Captain Dakers fired all his starboard guns and wearing ship brought his other side to the Constitution. He fired a port broadside. Many of the Guerriere's shot did not penetrate. The Constitution's oak side seemed made of iron, old iron sides. Dakers turned away but the Constitution came on. Side by side, they ran in a square set to. The Guerriere lost her mizzenmist. It dragged in the water like a rudder, turning her to starboard. The American forced the Britisher to turn still further. Crossed her bow, poured in another broadside. The bow spread of the Guerriere caught in old iron sides mizzen rigging. Down came Guerriere's foremost and then the mainlest. The ships wrenched apart. So the Guerriere lay, a hulk in the trough of the sea, her gun muzzles rolling under. Too badly caught up to be taken as a prize, she was burned at sea. This stinging victory was a tonic to the American's ashore. Cheers rang out for Captain Hull, old iron sides and a fighting navy. On October 18, 1812, after a spirited engagement, the wasp captured the British Brig frolic. A week later, 600 miles west of the Canary Islands, the frigate United States met the British frigate Macedonian. Captain Stephen Decatur by skillful seamanship and accurate gunnery took the Macedonian and sent her into a New England port. On December 29, 1812 off Brazil, Bainbridge in the Constitution encountered an enemy frigate, the Joppa, in company with a captured American merchant vessel. Bainbridge fired a shot across the frigate's bow. The Java broker collars opened fire and a battle was joined. The Constitution's wheel was shot away. Bainbridge, though twice wounded, continued in command. Severely punished, the Java was a dismastered and defeated hulk and like the Guerriere was destroyed at sea. Off Boston on June 1st, 1813, the American Chesapeake with a green crew unwisely sought battle with the crack British frigate Shannon. The day of battle was the first time the Chesapeake's crew had assembled at their stations. She was on ready for action. Captain Lawrence, fatally wounded, pleaded in vain, don't give up the ship. But demoralization rapidly set in and the Chesapeake surrendered. In a fiercely fought evenly matched brig engagement in September, 1813, the American Enterprise took the boxer. Meanwhile, the Essex rounded Cape Horn, the first American man of war to enter the Pacific Ocean. Under Captain David Porter, she cruised at will and destroyed the British whaling industry in the Eastern Pacific. At Valparaiso, although in neutral waters, Porter was cornered and illegally attacked by a superior British force. After a long, heroic and bloody fight, the Essex surrendered. In 1812, it will be recalled, the American plan envisioned the conquest of Canada. The American militia outnumbered the British ground forces in Canada, but English ships controlled the lakes. By water, Britain could supply her forces. She could move them rapidly and she had secure communications. On the land frontier, there was also the ever-present threat of Indian attack, intensified by Tecumseh's Indian Confederacy. The American General Hall was forced out of Detroit in August 1812 by the energetic Britisher, General Brock. Using his lake craft, Brock repelled attacks by larger American land forces. To contest British control of the lakes, President Madison ordered the building of American warships on these vital arteries. By 1813, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry had built a fleet on Lake Erie. The British Commodore, Barclay, had lagged behind in this construction race. At Maldon, Barclay waited for the launching of his most powerful ship, the Detroit. Here, he could protect the fort at Detroit and cover British water communications for land operations against the Americans on the Maumee and Sundusky Rivers in Ohio. Perry established himself at Put-In Bay in a position to sever British communications. On September 10th, 1813, Barclay came out to fight. The British to Lourdes were in column. The Americans stood down on them. Each fleet had two heavy ships and one of lesser strength to form a central group. Perry flew his flag in the Lawrence, 20 guns. The Detroit 19 guns was Barclay's flagship. Perry closed the distance. He was exposed to fire, which he could return only with his forward guns. The Lawrence outran her support. The three heaviest British ships poured in converging fire. The American Caledonia closed, but Niagara lagged behind. The Lawrence was crippled. Her deck of shambles, every gun useless. Most of her crew killed or wounded. Meanwhile, the wind strengthened. Fresh American units came up. Perry shifted his flag to the Niagara. In his new flagship, Perry returned to action and broke through the enemy line. With his starboard guns, he raked Detroit, Queen Charlotte, and Hunter. And to port, he fired broad sides into other British vessels. The smaller American vessels closed in on a disorganized enemy. The British flagship Detroit surrendered. The battle of Lake Erie was won. Perry wrote to General Harrison, we have met the enemy and they are ours. This victory severed British communications in Ohio. Their withdrawal overland was intercepted at the Thames River by American troops brought across the lake by Perry. The battle here, in which Perry led a cavalry charge, was another American triumph, putting all territory north and west of Northern Ohio under friendly control. As pressure of the Napoleonic Wars eased, naval strength was released from Europe and Britain tightly blockaded the American coast. Crisis soared. Commerce was almost at a standstill. Coast-wise freight moved only by wagon. By 1814, British armies composed largely of veterans from European campaigns were sent to America. United States was to be invaded from the north and from the south. And as a diversion, cities on the seaboard were to be raided in late waste. The capital city of Washington was selected. At Bladensburg on the District of Columbia line, the British marauders were met by several thousand raw and demoralized militia. The one stout stand was by Commodore Barney's handful of sailors and marines. Barney's position was overrun. The British entered Washington, burned the Navy Yard, the capital, the White House, then retired. The next city scheduled for the torch was Baltimore. Feverish preparations were made to defend this city. The British landed and took the first line of earthworks. But the defenders held, reinforced by Commodore Rogers and his sailors. All night, the British fleet bombarded Fort McHenry. But the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. So wrote Francis Scott Key as he watched for the dawn's early light. The invasion from the north by 12,000 seasoned troops was led in prison by the Governor General of Canada, Sir George Kravish. Success of the invasion depended on command of Lake Champlain, since there were no suitable roads and only that waterway could carry an army's supplies. But the United States controlled these waters. Commodore Thomas McDonough had built an American fleet which was based at Plattsburgh. The British had also rushed construction of a fleet, including the powerful 37 gunship confines. Featherst and his army arrived at Plattsburgh where no sizable American land forces opposed him. Early in the morning of September 11, 1814, the British squadron sailed to engage McDonough. The American fleet waited in the bay under Cumberland Head in careful formation, ready for action. McDonough had chosen his position well. The British fleet had to approach the American column with their bows presented and opened to the dreaded raking fire. The British Commodore Downey had four strong ships, confines, linnet, finch, and chub, plus gunboats. The confines was scarcely ready for action. Shipwrights had just left her. The crew had just reported aboard. Another example of an unready vessel. Downey knew that the two strongest American vessels were on the windward or northern end of the column and decided to concentrate three ships against them. The linnet and the chub were to engage the eagle while the confines was to anchor a thwarted bow of the American flagship Saratoga. The finch and gunboats were to attack the American rear, the Ticonderoga, Preble, and the Gallies. But fortune was with McDonough. The wind failed the confines. Forced to anchor, she was fired on by the entire American column. In return, the confines fired her first broadside and the Saratoga lost one-fifth of her crew. Aboard the confines, Downey was killed. The eagle was attacked as planned by the linnet, but not by the chub, which became unmanageable and surrendered. The finch grounded, so the American rear was attacked only by gunboats. The confines and linnet fought against the American Saratoga and Eagle. After an hour and a half, both flagships were shattered. At the critical moment, McDonough by use of a spring line pivoted his ship to bring fresh batteries to bear. The issue was decided here. The confines tried the same, but was slowed by battle damage. The crew panicked. The confines struck her colors, followed 15 minutes later by the linnet. Commodore McDonough with leadership, bravery, and skilful disposition of his ships had won a great victory. Governor Prevost's army retreated to Canada since naval control of the lake remained in American hands. In 1814, weary of a crossly stalemated war, the British initiated peace negotiations. On Christmas Eve, the Treaty of Ghent was signed, but news of the peace did not reach the British force at sea, poised for the Southern invasion. Commodore Daniel Patterson predicted correctly that the British point of attack would be New Orleans. His small naval squadron delayed the enemy landing several days, gaining invaluable preparation time for the Americans. When the battle was joined in January, 1815, direct naval gunfire support assisted General Andrew Jackson in defeating a British veteran army of some 5,000 troops. New Orleans was the last land action of the war. By the terms of the treaty, the British agreed to evacuate the Northwest Territory. They relinquished their claims for part of Maine and exclusive control of the Great Lakes. The decisive American naval victories by Perry on Lake Erie and McDonough on Lake Champlain left Britain with a poor case. England never resumed impressment of American seamen. The War of 1812 proved once more the necessity for a strong Navy, maintained in a state of constant readiness. Lacking adequate naval strength, we could not lift the strangling blockade. Invasion had been stopped on Lake Champlain and at New Orleans, but it was not stopped in the Chesapeake Bay, which was devoid of American naval strength. Washington had been burned. The Chesapeake's loss to the Shannon emphasized the disastrous results of lack of training and discipline. But America could take pride in her fighting ships and men. The few frigates in smaller vessels had more than held their own. All forerunners of our great modern fighting ships. Men and ships of 1812. Fighting defenders of our great free republic.