When he related the matter to his father, however, Captain Decatur stressed that the honor of the family and of the Navy had been insulted and that his son should return and challenge the chief mate to a duel.

[37][38] By July 1, 1799, United States had been refitted and repaired and commenced its mission to patrol the South Atlantic coast and West Indies in search of French ships which were preying on American merchant vessels.

While the ship was berthed there, Commodore Barry received orders to prepare for a voyage to transport two U.S. envoys to Spain and on December 3 sailed on United States for Lisbon via England.

[40] Not wanting to remain with United States during the months of repairs and outfitting, Decatur obtained a transfer to the brig USS Norfolk[41] under the command of Thomas Calvert.

After coming up with an elaborate plan,[51] Decatur sailed for Tripoli with 80 volunteers (most of them being U.S. Marines) intending to enter the harbor with Intrepid without suspicion to board and set ablaze the frigate Philadelphia, denying its use to the corsairs.

Before entering the harbor eight sailors from Syren boarded Intrepid, including Thomas Macdonough, who had recently served aboard Philadelphia and knew the ship's layout intimately.

[59] As the flames intensified, the guns aboard Philadelphia, all loaded and ready for battle, became heated and began discharging, some firing into the town and shore batteries, while the ropes securing the ship burned off, allowing the vessel to drift into the rocks at the western entrance of the harbor.

Preble planned another attack on Tripoli and amassed a squadron consisting of the frigate Constitution, the brigs Syren, Argus and Scourge, and the schooners Nautilus, Vixen and Enterprise, towing gunboats and ketches.

[77][78] Midshipman Brown, who was next in command after James, managed to break away from the ambushing vessel and immediately approached Decatur's gunboat bringing the news of his brother's fatal injury.

Intrepid, the same ship that captured Philadelphia, was loaded with barrels of gunpowder and other ordnance and sent sailing into a group of Tripolitan vessels defending the harbor, commanded by Lieutenant Richard Somers, with Midshipman Henry Wadsworth and eleven volunteers.

[94] He was promoted to captain at the age twenty-five, largely for his daring capture and destruction of Philadelphia in Tripoli's harbor, making him the youngest man ever to hold the rank.

They had met at a dinner and ball held by the mayor for a Tunisian ambassador who was in the United States negotiating peace terms for his country's recent defeat at Tunis under the silent guns of John Rodgers and Decatur.

For several months after their marriage the couple resided with Susan's parents in Norfolk, after which Stephen received orders sending him to Newport to supervise the building of gunboats.

After their marriage in March, Decatur lived with his wife's family in Norfolk until June when Secretary of the Navy Robert Smith gave him orders to supervise the building of four gunboats at Newport, Rhode Island, and four others in Connecticut of which he would later take command.

[117] Consequently, Barron's previous orders to sail for the Mediterranean were canceled and Chesapeake was instead assigned to Commodore Decatur, with a squadron of gunboats, to patrol the New England coast enforcing the Embargo Act throughout 1809.

After taking command of United States, now the rallying point of the young American Navy, Decatur sailed to most of the naval ports on the eastern seaboard and was well received at each stop.

[128] As soon as Rodgers received news of the declaration of war, fearing that the order to confine naval ships to port would be reconsidered by Congress, he and his squadron departed New York bay within the hour.

The squadron patrolled the waters off the American Upper East Coast until the end of August, their first objective being a British fleet reported to have recently departed from the West Indies.

[132] Because of the greater range of the guns aboard United States, Decatur and his crew got off seventy broadsides, with Macedonian only getting off thirty, and consequently emerged from the battle relatively unscathed.

Eager to present the nation with a prize, Decatur and his crew spent two weeks repairing and refitting the captured British frigate to prepare it for its journey across the Atlantic to the United States.

In a letter to the Navy Secretary, dated December 20, Decatur charged that traitors in the New London area were in collusion with the British to capture United States, Hornet and Macedonian.

[138] Unable to get his squadron out of the harbor, Decatur decided to write a letter to Captain Thomas Hardy offering to negotiate a resolution of the situation at a prearranged meeting.

The letter was sent under a flag of truce but was in violation of orders, as after the loss of Chesapeake, Navy Secretary Jones forbade commanders from "giving or receiving a Challenge, to or from, an Enemy's vessel."

The next day Hardy gave answer to Decatur's proposal and agreed to have Statira engage Macedonian "as they are sister ships, carrying the same number of guns, and weight of metal."

Because of Decatur's great successes in the War of 1812 and for his knowledge of and past experience at the Algerian port, Crowninshield chose him to command the lead ship in the naval squadron to Algiers.

[159][160] On June 17, while sailing in Guerriere for Algiers, Decatur's fleet encountered near Cape Palos the frigate Mashouda, commanded by Hamidou and the Algerian brig Estedio, which were also en route to Algeria.

[166] Among the more notable salutations was a letter Decatur received from the Secretary of State James Monroe that related the following tidings of appreciation: "I take much interest in informing you that the result of this expedition, so glorious to your country and honorable to yourself and the officers and men under your command, has been very satisfactory to the President.

Since a vacancy was about to occur in the board of Navy commissioners with the retirement of Commodore Isaac Hull, the Secretary was most anxious to offer the position to Decatur, which he gladly accepted.

[114][177] Barron's challenge to Decatur occurred during a period when duels between officers were so common that it was creating a shortage of experienced men, forcing the Department of the Navy to threaten to discharge those who attempted to pursue the practice.

Decatur's widow, Susan, held an even more damning view of the matter and spent much of her remaining life pursuing justice for what she termed "the assassins" involved.