USS Chesapeake (1799)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Chesapeake.

Painting of the USS Chesapeake at sea
USS Chesapeake, painting by F. Muller (early 1900s)
History
United States
NameUSS Chesapeake
NamesakeChesapeake Bay[1]
Ordered27 March 1794
BuilderJosiah Fox
Cost$220,677
Laid down10 December 1798[2]
Launched2 December 1799
Commissioned22 May 1800
Captured1 June 1813
United Kingdom
NameHMS Chesapeake
Acquired1 June 1813 by capture
Decommissioned1819
FateSold for timber
General characteristics (1813)
Class and type38-gun frigate[Note 1]
Tonnage1,244[3]
Length152 ft (46 m), 6 inches lpp[4]
Beam41.3 ft (12.6 m) or 40 feet, 11 inches[5]
Draft20 ft (6.1 m)[1]
Depth of hold13.9 ft (4.2 m)[6]
DecksOrlop, Berth, Gun, Spar
PropulsionSail
Complement340 officers and enlisted[6]
Armament
  • 29 × 18-pounder (8 kg) long guns
  • 18 × 32-pounder (14.5 kg) carronades
  • 2 × 12-pounder long guns (5.5 kg)
  • 1 × 12-pounder (5.5 kg) carronade[7]

Chesapeake was a 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction was authorized by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young navy's capital ships. Chesapeake was originally designed as a 44-gun frigate, but construction delays, material shortages and budget problems caused builder Josiah Fox to alter his design to 38 guns. Launched at the Gosport Navy Yard on 2 December 1799, Chesapeake began her career during the Quasi-War with France and later saw service in the First Barbary War.

On 22 June 1807 she was fired upon by HMS Leopard of the Royal Navy for refusing to allow a search for deserters. The event, now known as the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, angered the American public and government and was a precipitating factor that led to the War of 1812. As a result of the affair, Chesapeake's commanding officer, James Barron, was court-martialed and the United States instituted the Embargo Act of 1807 against the United Kingdom.

Early in the War of 1812 she made one patrol and captured five British merchant ships. She was captured by HMS Shannon shortly after sailing from Boston, Massachusetts, on 1 June 1813. The Royal Navy took her into their service as HMS Chesapeake, where she served until she was broken up and her timbers sold in 1819. They gave form and structure to the Chesapeake Mill in Wickham, England.

  1. ^ a b "Chesapeake". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 29 March 2011.
  2. ^ "Naval Documents related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France Volume Part 3 of 3 Naval Operations August 1799 to December 1799, December Pg. 472" (PDF). U.S. Government printing office via Imbiblio. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  3. ^ Roosevelt (1883), p. 48.
  4. ^ Naval Documents related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France (PDF). Vol. VII Part 1 of 4: Naval Operations December 1800-December 1801, December 1800-March 1801. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 365. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via Ibiblio.
  5. ^ Naval Documents related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France (PDF). Vol. VII Part 1 of 4: Naval Operations December 1800-December 1801, December 1800-March 1801. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 365. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via Ibiblio.
  6. ^ a b Chapelle (1949), p. 535.
  7. ^ Roosevelt (1883), p. 181.


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