US Navy Fleet List War of 1812
v.1.0 June 16, 2002
Source: Chronology of the US Navy 1775-1965 David M. Cooney; published by Franklin Watts Inc., New York, 1965
On March 18, 1812, the United States declared war against Great Britain. Between the end of the Revolutionary War and 1812, less than 30 years, the British seized 917 American ships, or more than 30 per year. This figure alone shows how different our world is today. Shocking as it is, another figure is even worse: in the same period, France, Naples, the Barbary States, Spain, and the Netherlands seized 1500+ American ships. It was very much open season on the young republic. Whether this was because of a general dislike of the first modern democracy or if it was because in those days the weak preyed on the strong as a matter of routine, these losses must have represented large sums of money, to say nothing of the cost to the nation’s pride. Seized shops were either ransomed to the owner, sold off to a third party, or appropriated by the seizing nation. Clearly, the US Congress was seriously negligent in protecting its merchant ships. Also clearly, an explanation for the reasons why must lie with those better acquainted with American history, and we invite them to enlighten us.
The case of this war lay with another. The British and French were at war with each other and Britain insisted that US merchantmen destined for France be searched at British ports. Even if the US had been inclined to quietly accept this, a habit of the Royal Navy would have gotten in the way: the British, when they seized an American ship, would impress American crews into their service. The reasoning was that the Americans were British citizens who sailed for America because of higher wages, and surely this must sometimes have been true. Other Americans were imprisoned: there still exist melancholy records at Dartmoor Prison listing American sailors who died there.
To add insult to injury, the French would seize any American ship that had stopped at a British port for inspection. Between 1803 and 1812 the US lost nearly 1500 ships just to the British and French.
The US Navy at this time had just 17 seaworthy ships – and 4 unseaworthy – with 447 guns and 5,000 men. The Royal Navy had 1048 ships, 27,800 guns, and 151,500 men. We suspect this fleet at least rivaled or even exceeded in comparative strength the World War II US Navy, the largest in terms of tonnage and manpower the world has ever seen. That the US would even consider declaring war on Great Britain showed of what stuff those first Americans were made.
Yet, to imagine the US Navy could have fought the Royal Navy at these odds is obviously absurd, even given the latte