USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente

USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente
Part of the Quasi-War
The frigate USS Constellation unleashes a broadside upon the French frigate L'Insurgente in the open sea.]]
Date 9 February 1799 Location Off the east coast of Nevis Result American victory
Belligerents
United States	France
Commanders and leaders
Thomas Truxtun	Michel-Pierre Barreaut
Strength
1 frigate	1 frigate
Casualties and losses
2 killed 2 wounded	1 frigate captured 29 killed 41 wounded

USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente, or the Action of 9 February 1799, was a single-ship action fought between frigates of the French Navy and the United States Navy during the Quasi-War, an undeclared war that lasted from 1798 to 1800. The battle resulted in the USS Constellation's capture of L'Insurgente.

French privateering attacks against American vessels, begun a year prior, caused the conflict between the United States and France. An American squadron under Commodore Thomas Truxtun had been sent to patrol the Caribbean 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 Constellation, his flagship, he met and engaged L'Insurgente. After chasing the French ship through a storm, Constellation forced 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 USS Insurgent. 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.

In 1798, an undeclared war between the United States and France began due to French privateering attacks against American vessels. These attacks were sanctioned due to the failure of the United States to repay its considerable debts to France, incurred during the American War of Independence. 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. 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 USS Constellation, the 20-gun Baltimore, the brigs Richmond and Norfolk, and the revenue cutter Virginia. Opposing Truxtun were several French vessels based in Guadeloupe, among them a number of privateers as well as two French naval frigates and a smaller, 20-gun corvette. One of the French frigates, the L'Insurgente, sortied from Guadeloupe on 8 February, commanded by Michel-Pierre Barreaut.

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