USS President: “…one of the finest pieces of naval architecture ever exhibited”

 Editor’s note: On May 10, 2022, Naval History and Heritage Command announced its commemoration of the 225^th anniversary of the launch of the first of the U.S. Navy’s six frigates, which began the new United States Navy, including: United States (launched May 10, 1797), Constellation (September 7, 1797), Constitution (October 21, 1797), Congress (August 15, 1799), Chesapeake (December 2, 1799), and President (April 10, 1800).
 
Six long years had elapsed since President George Washington had signed the “Act to provide for a Naval Armament” (commonly known as the “Naval Armament Act”) on March 27, 1794, which created the post-American Revolution United States Navy. In April 1800 USS President, the third 44-gun frigate and the last of the original six frigates authorized by the Act, was finally ready for launching.
 
Early in 1794 President Washington chose the ports where the frigates were to be built and because New York was, briefly, the new nation’s capital, it was a logical choice for one of the frigates.[1] Assigned to this building site were Foreman Cheeseman, naval constructor; Capt. Silas Talbot, superintendent of construction; and John Blagge, the naval agent who procured materials. Originally known as “Frigate C” (the six frigates were first known by a letter designation until names were assigned)[2], the warship’s construction was hampered by unfortunate incidents. In December 1795, nineteen months into the building, Secretary of War Timothy Pickering reported that
   
And then, construction was completely halted in 1796 when terms of peace were signed between the United States and the north African state of Algiers, as stipulated by Section 9 of the Naval Armament Act.  However, as tensions mounted between the U.S. and France in the Caribbean Sea, construction of the final three frigates was resumed.
 
In November 1799 Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert wrote to Captain Thomas Truxtun (former construction superintendent and first captain of the 36-gun frigate Constellation, launched on September 7, 1797),[4] “I will keep in mind that the New York Frigate [President] of 44 Guns is destined for you, whenever she will be ready for Service…”[5] This candid remark hightlights that even the Secretary was uncertain about President’s launch.
 
But the day of launching, April 10, 1800, finally arrived. Under the headline “THE FRIGATE PRESIDENT,” a fulsome description of the event was published in Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser on April 14^th. An hour before the launch, an artillery company processed to the yard and established themselves next to the frigate’s launch-ways. Claypoole’s set the scene:
   
Claypoole’s concluded: “The frigate President is rated at 44 guns, but pierced for 64; and is represented, by those who are the best qualified to give their judgement on the subject, to be one of the finest pieces of naval architecture ever exhibited.”[7]
 
 

Capt. Truxtun immediately began finishing and outfitting his new warship for its first assignment. Truxtun, who boasted of USS Constellation’s ability to out-sail both 44-gun frigates United States and Constitution, was no less pleased with the sailing qualities of his new command. “The President outsails any thing [sic] I have seen, our own ships of war as well as the British.”[8] And again in early November 1800 he wrote in President’s logbook: “Tried our Sailing with the Chesapeake, & find we beat her.”[9]
 
While cruising in consort with Constitution near Tripoli in the first Barbary War in 1804, the two big warships collided. President received little damage but the “Hercules” figurehead and cutwater on Constitution’s bow were destroyed and had to be re-built by Maltese carpenters. In the War of 1812 President sortied with Commodore John Rodger’s squadron, and except for an eight-hour chase of HMS Belvidera before the British warship escaped, did not engage in one-on-one frigate battles as experienced by Constitution and United States.

 
In April 1814, Stephen Decatur, hero of the first Barbary War, requested the command of President from the Secretary of the Navy:
   
Decatur’s preference for the swift-sailing President did not lead to another American victory. After a nearly year-long blockade in New York Harbor, Decatur took advantage of a winter storm which both drove the British blockaders off station and covered his escape on January 14, 1815. Unfortunately, before leaving the harbor President “grounded on the Bar, where she continued to strike heavily for an hour and a half…she had broken several of her Rudder Braces & had received such other material injury [to the keel] …”[11] Because of the winds and the threat of the falling tide, Decatur had to proceed to sea, despite the severe damage to his warship. At daylight he saw the British squadron; Decatur’s desperate escape was on. HMS Endymion gained upon President which was no longer the swift sailing warship of earlier years – its damaged rudder and distorted keel hampered its ability to out-sail the British warship. Over the next eighteen hours President and Endymion carried on a running battle, with the Americans lightening the ship by jettisoning fresh water, provisions, anchors and cables, spare spars, boats, and “every article that could be got at, keeping the sails wet from the Royals down”[12] in their attempt to escape from their relentless opponent.
 
 
Both ships did considerable damage to each other in the course of the battle and Endymion, with its rigging shot up, dropped out of the contest. President attempted to escape the rest of the British squadron, but to no avail.
   
USS President was indeed a prize for the British Admiralty for they had, at last, one of the seemingly invincible, big American 44-gun frigates. The warship was sailed to England where its lines were taken off and plans drawn before it was broken up in 1818. A new British warship class named the President Class was based upon the larger dimensions of USS President and rated to carry 52 heavy guns. HMS President, the first of the class was launched in 1829 and eventually became the headquarters of a Naval Reserve Unit in 1862. Over the decades, several other retired British warships have been given the name, each serving as the London home for the Royal Navy Reserves. Today HMS President is a building at St. Katharine’s Docks, London, and continues as the headquarters for the Royal Navy Reserves.