![]() As Barry was about to open fire on the frigate, she changed to the English flag and identified herself as HMS Thetis, narrowly avoiding being fired upon. Raising his own French flag, Barry maneuvered closer and when reaching it, hoisted the American colors. Shortly afterward Barry sighted a frigate showing French colors. United States sailed with Delaware to Boston where they were to meet with USS Herald and Relations with the French government had deteriorated, starting the Quasi-War. She was fitted out at Philadelphia during the spring of 1798 and, on 3 July ordered to proceed to sea. ![]() ![]() On she was the first American warship to be launched under the Naval Act of 1794, and the first ship of the United States Navy. Several proposals circulated before a final decision was reached allowing Washington to complete the three frigates nearest to completion United States, Constellation and Constitution were chosen. President Washington requested instructions from Congress on how to proceed. In accordance with the clause in the Naval Act, construction of United States was discontinued. Ĭonstruction slowly continued until a peace treaty was announced between the United States and Algiers in March 1796. He requested from the War Department a number of guards which were posted to keep out visitors but to little effect. įearing sabotage, Humphreys was concerned about the open nature of his ship yard which allowed anyone to wander in. A less desirable visitor, Benjamin Franklin Bache (grandson of Benjamin Franklin) was physically assaulted by Clement Humphreys (Joshua's son) allegedly over Bache's opposition to the Federalist Party and his opposition newspaper, the Philadelphia Aurora. The President expressed his admiration of the great size of the ship. Humphreys personally led President Washington and First Lady Martha on a tour. As Philadelphia was at the time America's capital, many visitors walked through observing her construction as it progressed. Humphreys was assigned as her constructor and John Barry as its captain and was the first commissioned Captain of the newly established U.S. Originally designated as "Frigate A" and subsequently named United States by President George Washington, her keel was laid down in 1795 at Humphreys' shipyard in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. He therefore designed his frigates to be able to overpower other frigates, but with the speed to escape from a ship of the line. Humphreys developed his design after realizing that the fledgling United States could not match the navy sizes of the European states. This gave the hull greater strength than those of more lightly built frigates. The design incorporated a diagonal scantling (rib) scheme to limit hogging while giving the ships extremely heavy planking. Joshua Humphreys' design was deep, long on keel and narrow of beam (width) for mounting very heavy guns. The Act provided funds for the construction of six frigates however, it included a clause stating that construction of the ships would cease if the United States agreed to peace terms with Algiers. ![]() Congress's response was the Naval Act of 1794. Main article: Original six frigates of the United States Navyĭuring the 1790s American merchant vessels began to fall prey to Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean, most notably from Algiers. Navy raised United States after retaking Norfolk, Virginia, but the aged and damaged ship was not returned to service instead, United States was held at the Norfolk Navy Yard until she was broken up in December 1865. She was subsequently commissioned into the Confederate navy as CSS United States, but was later scuttled by Confederate forces. In 1861, United States was in port at Norfolk when she was seized by the Virginia Navy. She was built at Humphrey's shipyard in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and launched on and immediately began duties with the newly formed United States Navy protecting American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France. Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so United States and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. The name "United States" was among ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering in March of 1795 for the frigates that were to be constructed. USS United States was a wooden- hulled, three- masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy and the first of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794.
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