Lt. Stephen Decatur burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia.

[Valin]

Lt. Stephen Decatur, Jr. Burns the Philadelphia
A legendary Navy hero led what might be considered one of the service's first special operations
Dwight Jon Zimmerman

October 31, 2014

 

“Burning of the Frigate Philadelphia in the Harbor of Tripoli, February 16, 1804″ Oil on canvas, 60″ by 42”, by Edward Moran (1829-1901), signed and dated by the artist, 1897. It depicts USS Philadelphia, previously captured by the Tripolitans, ablaze after she was boarded and set afire by a party from the ketch Intrepid led by Lt. Stephen Decatur. Painting in the U.S. Naval Academy Museum Collection. Gift of Paul E. Sutro, 1940. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command photo

 

The Barbary Coast of North Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, was home to pirates who had raided the sea lanes of the Mediterranean for generations, getting rich through either the capture and sale of merchantmen and their crews, or tribute from their governments – often both. Since independence freed the Royal Navy from having to protect American shipping, those merchantmen transiting the Mediterranean Sea increasingly fell prey to the pirates. To protect its maritime interests, Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794, creating the U.S. Navy. When one of the republic’s new frigates, the 36-gun USS Philadelphia, was captured on Oct. 31, 1803, in Tripoli harbor, the stage was set for the emergence of America’s first great hero of the nineteenth century, and what today would be a special operations mission conducted by SEALs: the destruction of the Philadelphia.

 

(Snip)

 

The mission to take a hand-picked crew on the captured Tripoli ketch Mastico, now christened Intrepid, into Tripoli harbor and sink the Philadelphia was the idea of Lt. Stephen Decatur, Jr., captain of the Enterprise. Everyone knew that, if successful, the leader of the mission would become a national hero and, perhaps even more important given the difficulty of advancement, receive a promotion. Though all the officers under his command volunteered, the man Preble chose was Decatur.

 

(Snip)

 

Preble’s orders to Decatur, dated Jan. 31, 1804, were as follows: “It is my order that you proceed to Tripoli in company with the Siren [captained by Lieutenant Charles Stewart] enter that harbor in the night, board the Philadelphia. Burn her and make good your retreat with the Intrepid, if possible, unless you can make her the means of destroying the enemy’s vessels in the harbor, by converting her into a fire-ship for that purpose, and retreating in your boats and those of the Siren. You must take fixed ammunition and apparatus for the frigate’s eighteen-pounders, and if you can, without risking too much, you may endeavor to make them the instruments of destruction to the slipping and Bashaw’s castle. You will provide all the necessary combustibles for burning and destroying ships. The destruction of the Philadelphia is an object of great importance and I rely with confidence on your intrepidity and enterprise to effect it. Lieutenant Stewart will support you with the boats of the Siren and over your retreat with that vessel. Be sure and set fire in the gun-room berths, cockpit, storerooms forward and berths on the berth deck. After the ship is well on fire, point two of the eighteen pounders, shotted, down the main hatch and blow her bottom out.”

 

(Snip)

 

In addition to becoming America’s first post-Revolutionary War hero, in May 1804 Decatur was promoted to captain, becoming at age 25 the youngest ever to reach that rank in the U.S. Navy. Decatur would participate in additional battles against the Barbary States and was instrumental in the U.S. Navy’s ultimate victory over them, receiving the accolade “the Conqueror of the Barbary Pirates.”

 

In 1816 he was appointed to the new Board of Naval Commissioners. Four years later he died as a result of wounds suffered in a duel. As commissioner, Decatur became involved in the Washington social scene, a circumstance no doubt aided by his stunning wife Susan, whose many suitors included Vice President Aaron Burr and Jérôme Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Emperor Napoleon I. At one dinner gathering, Decatur added to his fame for an after dinner toast that later suffered misinterpretation as a statement of blind chauvinism: “Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but right or wrong, our country!”