USS Constitution Vs HMS Guerriere - Background

Background

When the United States declared war on Britain on 18 June 1812, the Royal Navy had eighty-five vessels in American waters. By contrast, the United States Navy, which was not yet twenty years old, was a frigate navy that had only twenty-two commissioned vessels. The chief fighting strength of the U.S. Navy was a squadron of three frigates and two sloops of war under Commodore John Rodgers, based in New York. A week after Congress declared war, United States Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton had sent orders to Rodgers to cruise off New York, and to Captain Isaac Hull, commanding the USS Constitution at Annapolis on Chesapeake Bay, to join Rodgers.

However, Rodgers set out to sea immediately when he heard of the declaration of war, before he could receive Hamilton's instructions. He feared that if he delayed he might be blockaded by a superior British fleet, but by sailing immediately he might catch isolated British ships before they could concentrate. He did indeed encounter the frigate HMS Belvidera, but the Belvidera escaped, aided by a bursting cannon aboard USS President which injured Rodgers and caused much damage and confusion. Rodgers then crossed the Atlantic hoping to catch a valuable British convoy from the West Indies. The weather was foul throughout the voyage and Rodgers missed the convoy, capturing only seven small merchant vessels.

On hearing of the Belvidera's encounter, Vice Admiral Herbert Sawyer, the commander of the Royal Navy's North American Station based at Halifax, Nova Scotia, despatched a squadron under Captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke to catch Rodgers' squadron. Broke's squadron consisted of the 64-gun ship of the line HMS Africa and the frigates Shannon, Aeolus, Belvidera and Guerriere. By forcing the British to concentrate their force in one place, Rodgers had made it possible for large numbers of American merchant ships to reach other ports without being intercepted.