Posted on 12/29/2012 10:02:06 AM PST by abishai
...At 2 p.m., USS CONSTITUTION opened fire on HMS JAVA, a 38-gun ship that was smaller and faster than her adversary and commanded by Capt. Henry Lambert. HMS JAVA's opening salvo damaged USS CONSTITUTION's rigging and spars and wounded Bainbridge. Raking fire from HMS JAVA to the American frigate's stern shattered the helm and killed or injured the four helmsmen. Wounded a second time in the thigh, Bainbridge passed steering orders to Marines in the ship's tiller room, who moved the rudder using block and tackle.
Setting the fore and main courses, USS CONSTITUTION closed fast and delivered a broadside that destroyed HMS JAVA's bowsprit cap, jib boom and head sails. When the British frigate's bowsprit became entangled in the opposing vessel's mizzen rigging, Bainbridge seized the opportunity to fire a final broadside. USS CONSTITUTION's boarding party salvaged the helm from the dismasted HMS JAVA, to be outfitted aboard "Old Ironsides."
In his journal kept aboard USS CONSTITUTION, Bainbridge described the final moments of the battle that led to HMS JAVA's surrender at 5:25 p.m., shortly before sinking: "Got very close to the Enemy in a very effectual Raking Position, athwart his Bows, and was at the very instance of Raking him, when he most prudently Struck his Flag; for had he suffered the Broadside to have Raked him, his additional Loss must have been extremely great, as he laid an unmanageable Wreck upon the Water."
As many as 60 British seamen were killed in action, including Capt. Lambert. USS CONSTITUTION lost nine.
Following this battle, the British Admiralty - then the world's foremost maritime superpower - decreed their warships would no longer engage American frigates in combat unless in squadron force - that is, two or more to one...
(Excerpt) Read more at history.navy.mil ...
Interesting description of the battle from the British POV. I don’t think the author likes us much. LOL
http://www.1812privateers.org/NAVAL/java.html
Reminds me of when the British were shocked, SHOCKED! to find that Americans were targeting British officers with long range super accurate rifles.
How dare those Americans target OFFICERS! Common soldier OK, but NOT OFFICERS!
How dare those Americans target OFFICERS! Common soldier OK, but NOT OFFICERS!
SHTF Tactics 101. Go for those giving the orders first.
Make certain to also target, and fire upon, the non-commissioned officers.
The British public were, no doubt, shocked by the record of single ship combat between the American and Royal Navies. They were quick to offer excuse after excuse. The American 44 gun frigates were clearly superior to the British antagonists, but something else was at work.
The simple answer was that the American sailor was not French. They were competent seamen and all volunteers. They could handle both sail and guns and were well drilled in their duties. Unlike the French, the Americans aimed low, sending their shot smashing into the ships vitals just as the British preferred to do. The could service their guns as well or better than the British Tars, and therefore gave as good as they got. The British were not used to this, they had grown overconfident and a little underprepared from years of superiority over the French.
Of course, the U.S. Navy was no real threat to the Royal Navy, but it did give them pause and caused them to question why it made sense to wage war against Americans, whom they really wanted as trading partners, not enemies.
This is similar to the outrage knights displayed when firearms were used on the battle fields in Europe. Knights were not supposed to be killed by infantrymen, they should only have to do battle with someone of equal rank. The elite all banded together and tried to outlaw the use of firearms in battle and to limit ownership to only the upper classes. Knights were supposed to be able to ride willy nilly through the infantry(which, of course, were low class riff raff)hacking and killing at will, only facing any danger when another knight appeared.
When rifles were invented some clergymen declared rifles the work of the devil, saying that demons hid in the rifling and then rode the ball out and guided it to the target, therefore rifles should be banned from all use, except, of course, for the ruling class. They proved this theory by making balls out of silver and cutting a cross on them and sprinkling them with holy water.This distorted the ball, and ruined the accuracy therefore "proving" their demon theory.
Kind of like the assault weapons of that time period. All this is true and can be verified with a little research.
The elites are still doing the same sh** today, trying to ban all firearms because they might be used against the ruling class and not the peasants, exactly why us peasants should own them.
***This distorted the ball, and ruined the accuracy therefore “proving” their demon theory. ***
You by any chance got a copy of THE AGE OF FIREARMS by Robert Held? This is covered in his book.
It seems the rifle was declared ok because the spin caused the demon to be thrown off the bullet.
I was going to ask if Obama apologized to the British for this, but then I remembered that he doesn’t like the British.
Kinda puts him in a quandary, doesn’t it?
iirc this is the battle described in some detail by Patrick Obrien in his Aubrey/Maturin series
Thanks for the info. Do have any books or sources you recommend?
Yes, I have some of O’Brien’s books. Master and Commander got me into it.
The best source is the Naval Chronicle, a British periodical published from 1799 to 1818. Almost all of the volumes are available free, online. The contemporary accounts are invaluable.
Six Frigates by Ian Toll is very good.
1812: the Navy’s War by George Daughan is a good overall account
All sides stationed Marines in the tops to fire down upon the decks, especially the quarterdeck. But, it’s difficult to hit a specific target with an unrifled musket fired from a swaying mast onto the heaving deck of an adjacent ship. This is how Nelson died, struck by a French marksman who got very lucky.
All the info I have is that the priest proved the presence of demons made rifles evil, the tests were rigged because, like politicians today, the elites of that time wanted the results that would allow them to ban guns with a minimum of fuss from the populace.
It didn't work but they gave it the old elitist try. This type of phony polls and fact distortion is going on today, they never give up until force is used to make them stop.
i’ve read trhe obrien series a coupld of times. i too heard of it from the4 movies. Alexander Kent is also good, although he is nmo obrien
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