![]() ![]() ![]() With 17 vessels, 5 of which were in such a state of dilapidation that they would need to be practically rebuilt even to be seaworthy, the United States Navy in 1812 had fewer guns (447) than the Royal Navy had ships (1,048). A parsimonious Congress routinely rejected bills authorizing the construction of a few new frigates-or any of the much larger ships of the line. “Our Navy,” the crusty former president wrote, “is so Lilliputian that Gulliver might bury it in the deep by making water on it.”įor years, the very same Republicans who were now beating the war drums the loudest had blocked every effort to expand the tiny navy of the United States. In June 1812, on the eve of America’s headlong plunge into mad war against the mightiest seaborne power in the world, old John Adams confided to his grandson his opinion of the young nation’s chances. William Jones’s shrewd strategy was the key to America’s asymmetric warfare against the Royal Navy in 1812. ![]()
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