Yeah , yeah ,
yeah , yeah . It was a time of wooden
ships and sail cloths . A time of
muskets and long swords . It was when
the young nation of America found
itself in a second war with Britain and
the american navy came of age . Yeah ,
America's legacy as a blue water force
for good can be traced to the six
frigates of the fledgling navy and the
ship drivers who took them into harm's
way . But the story of those frigates
began years earlier
without a decisive naval force . We can
do nothing definitive and with it
everything honorable and glorious . In
the late 1700s , as Europe began to be
embroiled in what would become the
Napoleonic wars , more than a dozen
American merchant ships have been
seized by the barbary states of the
Mediterranean , primarily those of
algiers , sailors and shipowners were
distressed . The shipowners beseeched
the nation's leaders for some sort of
protection . The House of
Representatives answered with a
resolution claiming that a naval force
adequate to the protection of the
commerce of the United States against
the Algerian Corsairs ought to be
provided . Congress formed a committee
who later recommended that a small
squadron should be formed . In response
to the proposal came to a vote in the
House of Representatives on March 10 ,
and passed with a 52 , vote . President
Washington signed the bill into law on
March 27 . The nation's war office was
now empowered to purchase or build six
frigates . These frigates would be
designed to carry between 32 and 44
guns , depending on their rating . One
of the 39 votes that attended to block
the motion was from a Virginia named
James Madison , who would be president
of the United States 16 years later ,
during a conflict that would be
affected by the very frigates , he
opposed the job of acquiring the
frigates was now on the shoulders of
secretary of war . Henry Knox , a
veteran of the American Revolution ,
Knox returned to a shipbuilder named
Joshua humphreys , a man who had
already started design on a new class
of frigate . The new frigates will play
a major role in conflicts to come and
demonstrate a strengthened designing
ships to be as versatile as possible .
The innovative and cost effective
designs of today's navy can be traced
to the work of Joshua humphreys . Mm
Congress had approved the measure to
buyer build six frigates and Secretary
of War Henry Knox settled upon a
philadelphia shipbuilder named Joshua
humphreys to design the ships . It was
agreed upon by both men that the nation
required a specific type of ship to
defend its shores . Yeah , it is
determined of importance to this
country to take the lead and class of
ships not in use in europe , which
would be the only means of making our
little navy of any importance Humphries
had studied everything he could about
ship design and architecture . His
designs would seek to combine the
strength of the ships of the line with
the speed and maneuverability of
european frigates . The new frigates
were to be 175 ft at the waterline ,
larger than the European frigates
carrying larger cannon . While not
sacrificing speed . They are superior
to any european frigate and if others
should be in the enemy's company , our
frigates can always lead ahead and
never be obliged to go into action .
But on their own terms , The goal of
the design of Humphrey's frigates was
to empower them in single ship on ship
action , but also to give them the
ability to outsell any heavily cannon
ship of the line . While the Congress
of 1794 only cared about responding to
Algerian corsairs , Humphries intended
his ships to be capable of engaging the
European powers of the time if the need
arose . President Washington approved
the proposal for ships sent to him by
Congress . He was also given a list of
names to pick from for the ships . The
first five frigates were the first five
options on the list . United States
constellation . Constitution . Congress
and President . The last was later
named Chesapeake . In 1797 , the first
of the frigates , USS , United States
was launched in Philadelphia . She
would be followed by the constellation
and the Constitution . A few months
later , ships without leaders are just
wooden or steel shells . Nimitz Halsey
spruance and burke . These are the
names of legendary fighting admirals
that resonate with the fleet , but
there are men who lead our young navy
in the war of 18 12 , who also forged
fighting reputations . Stephen decatur
began a prolific career with acts of
daring during the conflict with the
Barbary Corsairs . Isaac Hull who
shattered England's feeling of
invulnerability when he led the crew of
the USs constitution . In the first
capture of a british warship in the war
Oliver hazard . Perry , whose flag bore
the words of a slain comrade as he
engaged a british fleet on lake Erie ,
defending the entire Ohio valley .
These men lead an Officer Corps of
exceptional warfighters and forged
tradition which has continued for 200
years based on war fighting excellence
and training that began during the war
of 1812 . To learn more about the
emergence of our navy during the war of
18 12 . Watch the defense media
activity is broadcast from new Orleans
Baltimore and boston on direct to
sailor television or the pentagon
channel april 18th from New Orleans ,
june 15th from Fort Mchenry in
Baltimore and July four from USS
Kearsarge in Boston And log on to our
1812 homepage starting April 15 at
Navy 1812 . Yeah , that's a wrap