USS President (1800)

The first USS "President" of the United States Navy was a 44-gun sailing frigate built by Christian Bergh, East River, New York. It was launched 10 April 1800, and sailed from New York on her first cruise, 5 August 1800, Comdr. Thomas Truxtun in command. "President" was one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794.

"President" was the flagship of Commodore Richard Dale in the Mediterranean in 1801 and 1802. She cruised in the Mediterranean in 1804 and 1805, participating in the actions against Tripoli in the Barbary Wars. She cruised off the eastern coast of the United States from 1809 to 1812. She sailed from Annapolis, Maryland, 12 May 1811, meeting and firing on HMS "Little Belt", 22 guns, in one of the incidents leading up to the War of 1812.main|Little Belt Affair

"President" sailed from New York 21 June 1812 with "United States", "Congress", "Hornet", and "Argus" on a cruise in the North Atlantic. Two days later she fell in with frigate HMS "Belvidera", and after a running fight of 8 hours, "Belvidera" escaped. Putting into Boston, "President" sailed again 3 October 1812 for the North Atlantic returning to Boston 31 December.

She sailed from Boston 30 April 1813 on a cruise off the coast of Europe. On 23 September she captured the schooner HMS "Highflyer", 5 guns, off New York, and arrived Newport, Rhode Island, 27 September 1813. She sailed from Providence, Rhode Island 4 December on a cruise to the West Indies, returning to New York 15(?) February 1814, and was blockaded there for almost a year by a British squadron consisting of HMS "Endymion", HMS "Majestic", HMS "Pomone" and HMS "Tenedos".

She sailed from New York 14 January 1815 under Capt. Stephen Decatur, and the next day was brought to action by the "Endymion". After a hard-fought three-hour action, the "President" finally surrendered when the "Pomone" and "Tenedos" came up to the pair.

The "President" was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS "President", after the existing HMS "President" was renamed HMS "Piedmontaise" later in 1815. She was originally to have been repaired (an Order to repair her was issued in March 1818, but was found to be too decayed, so a new ship was ordered (on 25 May 1818) to be built as an exact copy and the old ship was broken up at Portsmouth, England, in June 1818.

External links

* [http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/19thcentury/articles/usspresident.aspx Story of the capture of USS "President"]
* [http://members.cox.net/shipkiller/data/frigate/president_frigate.html Documents relating to the capture of USS "President"]