Second Battle of Tripoli Harbor

Burning of the frigate Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli, 16 February 1804, by Edward Moran, painted 1897, depicts a naval action of the First Barbary War

Date

14 July 1804

Location

Tripoli, Ottoman Empire (present-day Libya)

Result

Ottoman Tripolitania Victory

Grounded USS Philadelphia, crew and captain captured
Successful American raid; Destruction of USS Philadelphia by American forces

Belligerents

United States

Eyalet of Tripolitania

Commanders and leaders

Edward Preble

Yusuf Karamanli

Strength

11 frigates,
3 brigs,
3 schooners,
2 bomb vessels,
10 gunboats,
1 ketch
Unknown number of marines and sailors

1 brig,
2 schooners,
2 galleys,
19 gunboats,
115 shore batteries

Casualties and losses

1 frigate scuttled,
1 ketch sunk,
Total killed: 30
Total wounded: 24
Among the Dead
Capt. Richard Somers
Lt. James Decatur
Lt. James Caldwell
Lt. Henry Wadsworth
Lt. Joseph Israel
25 Sailors,
1 Marine
Wounded
Capt. Stephen Decatur
Capt. Isaac Happs
Lt. John Trippe,
15 Sailors,
4 Marines

Unknown

Ottoman Tripolitania Victory

The Second Battle of Tripoli Harbor, was a naval action during a naval blockade which took place in Tripoli Harbor in 1804. The battle is part of the First Barbary War between forces of the United States and the forces of Tripoli.

Commodore Edward Preble had assumed command of the U.S. Mediterranean Squadron in 1803. By October of that year Preble had begun a blockade of Tripoli harbor. The first significant action of the blockade came on 31 October when USS Philadelphia ran aground on an uncharted coral reef and the Tripolitan Navy was able to capture the ship along with its crew and Captain William Bainbridge. Philadelphia was turned against the Americans and anchored in the harbor as a gun battery.

On the night of 16 February 1804, a small contingent of U.S. Marines in a captured Tripolitan ketch rechristened USS Intrepid and led by Lieutenant Stephen Decatur, Jr. were able to deceive the guards on board Philadelphia and float close enough to board the captured ship. Decatur's men stormed the vessel and decimated the Tripolitan sailors standing guard. To complete the daring raid, Decatur's party set fire to Philadelphia, denying her use to the enemy. Decatur's bravery in action made him one of the first American military heroes since the Revolutionary War. The British Admiral Horatio Nelson, himself known as a man of action and bravery, is said to have called this "the most bold and daring act of the age." Even Pope Pius VII stated, "The United States, though in their infancy, have done more to humble the anti-Christian barbarians on the African coast than all the European states had done..."

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Wikipedia