The capture of HMS Macedonian was a naval action fought near Madeira on 25 October 1812 between the heavy frigate USS United States, commanded by Stephen Decatur, and the frigate HMS Macedonian, under the command of John Surman Carden. The American vessel won the long bloody battle, capturing and bringing Macedonian back to the United States. It was the first British warship to ever be brought into an American harbor.
USS United States was the first of the six original frigates of the United States Navy, completed in 1797. She was a then-modern ‘heavy frigate’ design, which was intended to be powerful enough to defeat any contemporary French or British frigate whilst still being fast enough to evade any opposing ship of the line. Rated as a 44-gun vessel, the primary armament was thirty-two 24-pounder cannon mounted on the main gun deck. She had seen action during the Quasi-War of 1798â1800, capturing several small French vessels.
HMS Macedonian was a Lively-class frigate, of the Royal Navy’s fifth rate. This was a successful design that had been used since 1804. Macedonian was the eleventh ship in the class, launched in 1810 just two years before the battle. Officially rated with 38 guns, the main armament was twenty-eight 18-pounder cannon. She had not previously seen action.
Although Macedonian was larger than the fifth-rate frigates used in earlier conflicts (such as the American Revolutionary War), she was still significantly smaller and more lightly armed than the United States. The American vessel’s broadside totaled 864 pounds of shot, whilst the British vessel was only 528 pounds; the 24-pounders on the United States also had a longer effective range. The United States was the larger and more solidly built of the two, with 1576 tons burthen as opposed to Macedonian’s 1082 tons burthen. The United States also carried a larger crew.
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