So often the bits and pieces we learn in school are devoid of the personalities, the dangers, the tenuous threads that led to one resolution instead of another. We take history for granted because it's already happened. But the things that occurred were not-were
never-a fait accompli. Forrest McDonald's genius was finding the story behind the history, and in this case, that meant unraveling the twists and turns that led to the scrappy, underfunded, American Navy bringing the world's best navy to its knees.
When in 1812 the country went to war, America was so badly prepared that the war was almost a calamity. The nation avoided ruin only because of the gallantry of the newborn United States Navy. Despite the folly of politicians, despite a perpetual shortage of money, despite the fact that it was starting from scratch, the American Navy came of age during these years, holding its own against powerful enemies and establishing a proud tradition.
There was the frigate
Constitution, "Old Ironsides," which outfought and outsailed whole squadrons. There was U.S.S.
President, which restored America's self-respect at a crucial time by engaging and defeating a British man-of-war. There were the sloops of war
Essex and
Hornet, which made daring raids into the heart of enemy waters.
There was Captain John Rodgers, who upset the workings of a British fleet of 600 ships with but 5 ships of his own. There was Lieutenant David Porter, who worked out the basic strategy and tactics for the United States Navy while imprisoned in a dungeon in North Africa, the captive of Algerian pirates. There was Midshipman James Jarvis, the thirteen-year-old commander of the main topsail crew on U.S.S.
Constellation, killed in action when the guns of H.M.S.
Vengeance blasted down the mainmast. There were the teen-aged boys and young black men who were the real heroes of America's victory in the Battle of Lake Erie. This is the story of these ships and these men and boys, of the American Navy in the age of fighting sail.
