Quasi-War
Early in January 1800, she began operations against the French, taking an unidentified lugger off San Juan, Puerto Rico and recapturing brig Dolphin. She then retook the brigs Hannibal on 22 March and Atlantic the next day, both prizes of the French privateer President Tout. The French privateer schooner Jason surrendered to her 3 April, and in May she retook schooners Dispatch and William. Sometime in the late spring or summer she recaptured the American brig Olive, and on 13 June she took French schooner Decade. These victories punctuated and highlighted the day-to-day duty of patrolling the West Indies. She continued to protect American shipping through the late summer and fall.
John Adams was dispatched to the United States 5 December escorting a convoy. She was placed in ordinary in Charleston in mid-January 1801, and in late June she sailed to Washington, D.C. where she was laid up. The remarkable success of the frigate was representative of the new Navy which her namesake, President John Adams, had called into being to protect the growing and vital commerce of the young nation.
As the Quasi-War with France drew to a close, President Adams could report on the Navy to Congress: "The present Navy of the United States, called suddenly into existence by a great national emergency, has raised us in our own esteem; and by the protection afforded to our commerce has effected to the extent of our expectations the objects for which it was created."
Read more about this topic: USS John Adams (1799)