USS General Pike (1813)

Sail plan of USS General Pike
History
Name:	USS General Pike
Namesake:	Zebulon Pike (1779-1813)
Builder:	Henry Eckford
Laid down:	9 April 1813
Launched:	12 June 1813
Fate:	Sold, 1825
General characteristics
Type:	Corvette
Tons burthen:	875 (bm)
Length:	145 ft (44.2 m)
Beam:	37 ft (11.3 m)
Depth:	15 ft (4.6 m)
Propulsion:	Sail
Complement:	300 to 432 officers and enlisted
Armament:	28 × 24-pounder guns

USS General Pike was a corvette in the United States Navy, which took part in Engagements on Lake Ontario during the Anglo-American War of 1812. She was launched in June 1813 and took part in several indecisive battles on the Great Lakes. She was laid up at the end of the war and was sold in 1825.

She was named for Brigadier General Zebulon Pike, who was killed by an exploding enemy magazine at the Battle of York on 26 April 1813. The ship was laid down on 9 April 1813 at Sackets Harbor, New York by Henry Eckford, a New York City shipbuilder who supervised the construction of warships on Lake Ontario. The ship was roughly the same dimensions as the frigate USS Essex, and the largest yet built on any of the Great Lakes.

From the outset, Commodore Isaac Chauncey, the American naval commander on the lakes, wanted the new ship to be armed with a broadside of long guns with longer range than the carronades mounted on most of the vessels of the opposing British squadron. General Pike was therefore fitted with 26 of the Pattern 1794 24-pounder long guns originally fitted to the USS Constitution, but since replaced. Two of these guns were mounted on pivots on the topgallant forecastle (a platform above the forward gun deck) and the poop deck, and could fire on either broadside.

On 29 May, the British under Lieutenant General Sir George Prevost and Commodore Sir James Lucas Yeo attacked Sacket's Harbor, intending to destroy General Pike before it could be launched. During the resulting battle of Sackett's Harbor, the Americans feared that the town was about to be captured and prematurely set fire to General Pike and vast quantities of stores. The British called off the attack at this point and the ship was saved, although $500,000 worth of materials had been destroyed.