USS President (1800) - As HMS President

As HMS President

Now in possession of the Royal Navy, President and her crew were ordered to proceed to Bermuda with Endymion. During the journey, they encountered a dangerous gale. The storm destroyed President's masts and strained Endymion's timbers so badly that all the upper-deck guns were thrown overboard to prevent her from sinking. Decatur and his crew were briefly held prisoner in Bermuda. Upon the prisoners' return to the United States, a U.S. Navy court martial board acquitted Decatur, his officers, and his men of any wrongdoing in the surrender of President.

President and Endymion continued to England, arriving at Spithead on 28 March. President was commissioned into the Royal Navy under the name HMS President. Her initial rating was set at 50 guns, although she was at this stage armed with 60 guns—thirty 24-pounders (10.9 kg) on the upper deck, twenty-eight 42-pounder (19 kg) carronades on the spar deck, plus two more 24-pounder guns on the forecastle. In February 1817 she was again re-rated, this time to 60 guns.

In March 1818 she was considered for refitting. A drydock inspection revealed that the majority of her timber was defective or rotten and she was broken up at Portsmouth in June. President's design was copied and used to build HMS President in 1829, although this was reportedly more of a political maneuver than a testament to the design. The Royal Navy wished to retain the name and likeness of the American ship on their register as a reminder to the United States and other nations of the capture.