OM DENNE EPISODE
The British Navy was once the force which Britain was able to exert an immense amount of influence over the colonies, being once the most disciplined and effective force. When the War of 1812 broke out, the British Army was still in Europe fighting, so the Navy was sent to start a siege of the USA by means of a naval blockade.
The infant US Navy had barely any ships and thus could not face the British in an all-out battle where rows of ships sailed in orderly formations and bombarded each other, instead, the Americans had their few frigates, including the Constitution, a heavy frigate, which is the focus of our story today. Other ships included Chesapeake, the President, the United States, the Congress, and the ill-fated Constellation. These were all ships; frigates designed to be powerful enough to defeat their British and French counterparts, thus being heavy frigates to ensure the upper hand against other frigates, yet they needed to be fleet enough to evade the largest of the British ships, the ones with tiered decks and large guns, the ones that participated in massive battles.
The British string of losses against these frigates was met with bitterness, as the British populace considered the power of the American frigates to be much more like a ship-of-the-line, the front row ships for battle, than a frigate, thus seeing a larger ship picking on one that was outclassed. It was the actions of pirates that caused the building of these ships, as the trade was being disrupted. It was one of the frigate on frigate battles where the USS Constitution faced the HMS Guerriere in combat. The way ships fought was due to their gun placement; since they could not rotate their guns so much as the ships could fly, they had to maneuver into an advantageous position where the full length of the ship’s guns could be brought to bear. Thus, crossing the bow of another ship allowed yours to rake across it, dealing heavy damage.
The Guerriere wasted no time and sent a barrage of shot as soon as the American ship entered range, doing negligible damage. Isaac Hull, the commander of the Constitution, closed in after exchanging some fire to a close range of 23 meters. Using canisters full of small metal balls, called grapeshot, and round shot, double-loaded into the cannons of the Constitution, the Constitution managed to take out the mizzenmast of the Guerriere. With the mizzenmast causing friction in the water after collapsing, the Constitution managed to cross the bow, and they became entangled, leaving only the bow guns of the Guerriere to fire, while the Constitution could make full use of her main batteries. The ships were locked together, though boarding parties failed to take hold. After a spectacular action where the ships rotated counter-clockwise, the bowsprit (the front of the Guerriere) became entangled with great force. The force reverbed through the ship and took out the foremast, which also collapsed the mainmast, leaving the ship an unmanageable hulk.
This was one of the first battles where the small US navy managed to win a series of battles and shattered the British mirage of invincibility.
