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USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente
The USS ''Constellation'' vs ''L'Insurgente'', or the Action of 9 February 1799, was the first United States naval victory against a foreign naval vessel. A single-ship action fought between frigates of the French Navy and the United States Navy during the Quasi-War, the battle resulted in the capture of ''L'Insurgente''.
The previous year, an undeclared war had begun between the United States and France due to French privateering attacks against American vessels. An American squadron under Commodore Thomas Truxtun had been sent to patrol the waters between Puerto Rico and Saint Kitts with orders to engage any French forces they found in the area. While Truxtun was sailing independently of his squadron in the ''Constellation'', his flagship, he met and engaged ''L'Insurgente''. After chasing the French ship through a storm, ''Constellation'' was able to force ''L'Insurgente'' into an engagement that lasted an hour and fourteen minutes before the French frigate surrendered. The French sustained heavy casualties in the action, while the numbers of American dead and wounded were low. After the action ''L'Insurgente'' was taken to Saint Kitts and commissioned into the United States Navy as . With this and later victories, American morale soared, and Truxtun returned home to honor and praise from the American government and the public at large.
==Background==
In 1798 an undeclared war between the United States and France began due to French privateering attacks against American vessels. In response to the attacks, the United States government decided to go on the offensive by sending four naval squadrons to the Caribbean with orders to seize armed French vessels and prevent privateers from attacking American ships.〔Palmer 1987, p. 81.〕 One of the squadrons, under the command of Commodore Thomas Truxtun, was dispatched to cruise between Puerto Rico and Saint Kitts. Truxtun's squadron consisted of his flagship, the frigate , the 20-gun , the brigs and , and the revenue cutter ''Virginia''.〔Allen 1909, p. 83.〕 Opposing Truxtun were several French vessels based out of Guadeloupe, among them a number of privateers as well as two French naval frigates and a smaller, 20-gun corvette.〔Palmer 1987, p. 97.〕 One of the French frigates, the ''L'Insurgente'', sortied out from Guadaloupe on 8 February, commanded by Michel-Pierre Barreaut.〔Cutler 2005, p. 25.〕〔Palmer 1987, p. 98.〕
Though the 1,265-ton ''Constellation'' was officially classified by the United States Navy as a 36-gun frigate, during the Quasi-War she carried a heavier armament of 38 guns.〔Bauer 1991, p. 9.〕 Consisting of twenty-eight 24-pounders on her main deck and ten 12-pounders on her spar deck, ''Constellation'' main armament had a combined throwing weight of .〔Allen 1909, p. 99.〕 In contrast, ''L'Insurgente'', rated a 32-gun , was armed with 40 cannons. The armament of Barreaut's 950-ton ship consisted of twenty-four 12-pounders, two 18-pounders, eight 6-pounders, four 32-pounder carronades, and two 24-pounder carronades,〔 totaling a combined throwing weight of only . Thus although Barreaut's vessel carried two more guns in total, Truxtun's frigate had a more powerful armament due to shot weight. In a boarding action, the French frigate's crew of 409 men would have had an advantage over the American ship's 309, but in a gunnery duel the Americans were superior.〔
抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』
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