The beginning of the US Navy was when 6 ships of legendary status were laid down due to the imposing presence of Algerian, Tunisian, and Tripoli pirates, and the previous Quasi-War with France. One of these ships was the USS Chesapeake, a frigate that participated in the War of 1812.

The reasons for the War of 1812 are many, but one of the big reasons was that Britain was seizing US ships. Oftentimes, the British ships would take sailors and forced them into service for the Navy, citing that they were “deserters”. However, chances were that they were not deserters, but many British sailors were attracted to deserting to the American Navy and ended up joining of their own accord. 

The British became fed up with the desertion and began to bully around America, parking ships outside the coast to search for deserters. The USS Chesapeake was cruising in preparation for a long journey, with the deck cluttered with ropes and all sorts of items, making the ship far from battle-ready. There was no reason to be, (or so they thought), as there was no immediate threat. 

Earlier, British ships that had docked in the harbor had secreted several deserters who joined the Chesapeake’s crew. The fourth-rate frigate HMS Leopard was sent off to search the Chesapeake for deserters. The search warrant presented did not receive a conclusion and the Leopard fired a shot across the Chesapeake’s bow to order submission. When the Chesapeake did not comply, frantically trying to get into battle readiness, the Leopard fired multiple broadsides into the American ship. The Chesapeake managed to fire a single shot and the commander surrendered in humiliation.

This incident, the Chesapeake-Leopard affair, incited the War of 1812. The public began to doubt the frigates that were tasked with defending the country. While the easy takeover by the British was from surprise, this was not the first time the Chesapeake would be humiliated by the British. 

The commander of the HMS Shannon, a frigate, Captain Broke, sent a challenge to Captain James Lawrence of the Chesapeake after the ship moved to Boston to stop the Shannon from disrupting the harbors and seizing ships. The nature of the challenge was less of a brawl than a duel. The two ships met each other, but the Chesapeake’s first broadside landed several shots instead into the water. The second broadside again had less effect but the carronade shots wrecked the forecastle of the Shannon and did a sizeable amount of damage. However, the Shannon was not sitting idle, and the British gun crews fired broadsides into the Chesapeake, causing many casualties in the gun crews operating the cannons on the Chesapeake. The ships came next to each other and became lashed together. The Chesapeake was unable to assemble a boarding party, while a force of 20 men led by Captain Broke boarded the Chesapeake, eliminating the resisting marines aboard the Chesapeake. James Lawrence was shot and the battle was completely lost.