Key Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 2: The British Origins of the US Navy

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History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

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🗓️ 24 October 2024

⏱️ 41 minutes

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Summary

The American Navy was birthed in the Barbary Wars. Sure, there was a token navy in the Revolutionary War, but battles were mostly won in that war by American privateers (or, if you were British, pirates). To understand where the U.S. Navy came from, we need to take a step back and look at the stake of naval warfare in the 18th century.

The early American Navy resembled the British Navy in its use of British ship designs, naval tactics, and organizational structures, largely inherited from the colonial period when the colonies relied on British maritime power. Many American naval officers had British training or were influenced by British traditions, such as ship discipline, officer ranks, and the use of frigates for protecting trade routes.

However, the U.S. Navy was different in its focus and scale. While the British Navy was a vast global force designed for empire-building and large-scale warfare, the early American Navy was smaller and more focused on defending American merchant ships, often relying on nimble frigates rather than large ships-of-the-line. Additionally, the U.S. Navy operated with a more democratic ethos, as naval officers in America were often more accountable to elected officials, reflecting the values of the new republic.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to Key Battles of the Barbary Wars.
0:08.0	In the last episode we looked at the origins and background of the Barbary Wars.
0:12.0	In this episode we're going to be looking at the British origins origins and
0:15.0	the background of the Barbary Wars.
0:16.0	This episode we're going to be looking at the British origins of the US Navy
0:18.0	and what it was like to serve on a ship at this time.
0:21.0	We're in the early 1800s. This is during the Napoleonic Wars during the
0:26.3	Master and Commander film setting with Russell Crowe. And as we get into the Barbary Wars, James, it's basically exactly like the Battle of Trafalgar, where you have hundreds and hundreds of ships with thousands, tens of thousands of sailors.
0:41.0	It's master and commander meets pirates of the Caribbean and it's just
0:45.2	all out glorious naval warfare in the age of sail. That's exactly what people were right.
0:55.0	Hey everyone Scott here. Before we get started with this episode, a quick break for word from our sponsors.
1:00.0	Whoa, hold on there,
1:05.0	hold on to partner.
1:07.0	No, no, no, no, no, let's not get out of control here.
1:10.0	This is like a very poor man's version of Master and Commander. This is like many many many
1:16.3	naval battles.
1:17.3	Yeah, I was trying to think about, I mean this episode we're going to talk about the different
1:22.4	types of ships that exist in this era and I will mention the type of ship you would see
1:26.5	it master and commander and the enormous ones that Admiral Nelson would be commanding.
1:32.1	But you're really not going to see those ships at all in the
1:34.9	Barbary Wars. An analogy I thought of is, imagine we were doing a series on car culture in
1:40.5	the 1950s and I spend an episode talking about 4 GM Chrysler what all
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