USS ''Philadelphia'', a 1240-ton, 36-gun

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

, was the second vessel of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

to be named for the city of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Originally named ''City of Philadelphia'', she was built in 1798–1799 for the United States government by residents of that city. Funding for her construction was raised by a drive that collected $100,000 in one week, in June 1798. She was designed by Josiah Fox and built by Samuel Humphreys, Nathaniel Hutton and John Delavue. Her carved work was done by William Rush of Philadelphia. She was laid down about November 14, 1798, launched on November 28, 1799, and commissioned on April 5, 1800, with Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr. in command. She was captured by Barbary pirates in Tripoli with William Bainbridge in command.

Stephen Decatur Commodore (United States), Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr. (; January 5, 1779 – March 22, 1820) was a United States Navy officer. He was born on the eastern shore of Maryland in Worcester County, Maryland, Worcester County. His father, Ste ...

led a raid that burned her down, preventing her use by the pirates.

Service history

Quasi War: USS ''Philadelphia'' put to sea for duty in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

and was off Newcastle on 23 April, 1800 waiting for favorable wind. She arrived on the

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

Station in May 1800 and relieved the frigate . During this cruise she captured five French armed vessels and recaptured six merchant ships that had been taken by French ships. On 22 May she recaptured schooner "Betsy". On 15 July, was with USS Connecticut when Connecticut captured French Letter of Marque ketch "Le Chouchou". On 26 July she recaptured brig "Diligence". On 26 November she recaptured British sloop "Eliza", that had been captured by privateer "Rosalie" (or possibly "La Resolute" or "Resolie"). On 27 November recaptured schooner "Sally". A few days later captured privateer "Hare"(?). On 3 December captured privateer "La Levrette" off Bassaterre, Guadalupe. On 26 December she recaptured American brig "Dove" and sloop "Lucy", both captured by privateer schooner "Patriot". On 27 December she recaptured American schooner "Ann and Susan", captured by privateer "Flambeau". On 29 December she recaptured British brig "Sir John Wentworth", captured by privateer schooner "Patriot". First Barbary War:Returning home in March 1801, she was ordered to prepare for a year's cruise in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

in a squadron commanded by Commodore Richard Dale. At his own request, Decatur was relieved of the command of ''Philadelphia'' by Captain Samuel Barron. The squadron cleared the Cape on 2 June. The squadron arrived at

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

on July 1, with Commodore Dale in the frigate . ''Philadelphia'' was directed to cruise the Straits and blockade the coast of Tripoli, since in May 1801 the Pasha Yusuf Karamanli had threatened to wage war on the United States and had seized U.S. merchant vessels for ransom. ''Philadelphia'' departed Gibraltar for the United States in April 1802, arriving in mid-July. Her crew was discharged and she was placed under command of Lt. John Cassin, Cassin in turn was furloughed until further notice with command going to her Sailing Master and put in ordinary in a letter dated 28 July. He was ordered to return and assume command again in a letter dated 21 August, 1802. Captain William Bainbridge was ordered to take command and get her ready to sail in a letter dated 21 May, 1803. On May 21, 1803, she recommissioned (having her sixteen 9-pounder long guns replaced with sixteen 32-pounder carronades at this time), and sailed for the Mediterranean on July 28, 1803. She arrived in Gibraltar on August 24 with Captain William Bainbridge in command. Two days later she captured Moroccan ship-of-war ''Mirboka'' (24 guns and 100 men) off Cape de Gatt, Spain and the next day recaptured the American

brig A brig is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: two masts which are both square rig, square-rigged. Brigs originated in the second half of the 18th century and were a common type of smaller merchant vessel or warship from then until the l ...

''Celia'', captured by Mirboka on 17 August, and brought them both into Gibraltar. At the end of the brief war between the U. S. And Morocco, that had been started by the Governor of Tangier without permission of the Emperor of Morocco, Mirboka was returned on 12 October, 1803.

Capture

During the First Barbary War, ''Philadelphia'', accompanied by , cruised off Tripoli until October 31, 1803. While giving chase and firing upon a Tripoli navy ship, it ran aground on an uncharted reef off Tripoli Harbor. The captain, William Bainbridge, tried to refloat the ship, first laying the sails aback, and casting off three bow anchors and shifting the guns aftward, but a strong wind and rising waves drove her further aground. He ordered the crew to jettison many of the cannons, barrels of water, and other heavy articles overboard in order to lighten the ship, but this too failed. They sawed off the foremast in one last desperate attempt to lighten it. In order not to resupply the Tripoli pirates (navy soldiers of Tripoli government), Captain Bainbridge ordered holes drilled in the ship's bottom, magazine flooded, pumps sabotaged, and all other weapons thrown overboard before he surrendered. The Pasha's officials enslaved the American officers and men as war captives.

Burning

The Tripoli pirates had finally managed to refloat ''Philadelphia'' on 2 November. The Bey communicated with his Consuls to see if there was any interest in purchasing her, where Tripoli couldn't man her properly. Americans believed that the warship was too great a prize to be allowed to remain in foreign hands, so the Navy decided to recapture or destroy it. After the United States had captured the Tripolitan ketch ''Mastico'', they renamed her as , but re-rigged the ship with short masts and triangular sails to look like a local ship. Lieutenant

, son of USS ''Philadelphia's'' first captain, led a party of 83 volunteers to carry out this task. On February 16, 1804, under the cover of night and in the guise of a ship in distress that had lost all anchors in a storm and needed a place to tie up, Decatur sailed ''Intrepid'' next to ''Philadelphia''. The Americans boarded the prize and, after making sure that she was not seaworthy, burned the ship where she lay in Tripoli Harbor. Decatur's force suffered only one wounded member and killed at least 20 Tripolitans. Britain's Viscount Nelson is said to have called this feat "the most bold and daring act of the Age". The authenticity of this quote remains in doubt. The crewmen captured in 1803 were released pursuant to the 1805 Treaty of Tripoli, which ended the war. ''Philadelphia's'' anchor was returned to the United States on April 7, 1871, when Mehmed Halet Pasha, the Ottoman governor, presented it to the captain of the visiting .

Local account of the destruction

In 1904, Charles Wellington Furlong, an American adventurer, went to Tripoli to investigate the sinking of ''Philadelphia''. He later wrote about the history in his book, ''The Gateway to the Sahara: Observations and Experiences in Tripoli'' (1909). Based on records from a local synagogue, Furlong wrote: Furlong later reported in the same book that other Arabs in Tripoli had said that the ship was not burned, but moved to the Lazaretto. There it was decorated as a trophy and its guns were fired to mark the end of

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

, the major Muslim holiday. According to the detailed account of Hadji-Mohammed Gabroom, an American ketch sneaked into the harbor, its crew killed some of the 10 guards, and allowed the others to flee. It set ''Philadelphia'' on fire.''The Gateway to the Sahara: Observations and Experiences in Tripoli''
, by Charles Wellington Furlong. 1909. pp. 106–12. archive.org, accessed December 2017.

Popular culture

The burning of the USS ''Philadelphia'' appears in the US DLC of the RTS game Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition.

References

Bibliography

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* Chapelle, Howard I. (1935) ''The American Sailing Navy'', W. W. Norton and Co., New York, p. 400.
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* Kilmeade, Brian & Yaeger, Don (2015) ''Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed American History''. Sentinel., New York, . *
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External links

*
A Journal kept on board the United States Frigate ''Philadelphia'', 1800–1801, MS 170
held by Special Collections & Archives, Nimitz Library at the United States Naval Academy {{DEFAULTSORT:Philadelphia (1799) Barbary Wars American ships Captured ships Military history of Tripoli, Libya Maritime incidents in 1804 Quasi-War ships of the United States Sailing frigates of the United States Navy Ships built in Philadelphia Shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea Vessels captured from the United States Navy 1799 ships Ship fires 19th century in Tripoli, Libya