*** Welcome to piglix ***

USS President (1800)

A painting depicting a ship at anchor during rough seas. One side of the ship is prominent in the foreground with the bow and anchor chain to the right of the frame. There are no sails set and only the masts and rigging are shown. Two other ships are shown to the right and left in the far background.
President rides out a storm at anchor.
History
United States
Name: USS President
Namesake: President of the United States
Ordered: 27 March 1794
Builder: Initially Forman Cheesman; later Christian Bergh
Cost: $220,910
Laid down: 1798
Launched: 10 April 1800
Maiden voyage: 5 August 1800
Captured: 15 January 1815
General characteristics
Class and type: 44-gun Frigate
Tonnage: 1,576 tons
Length: 175 ft (53 m) between perpendiculars
Beam: 44 ft 4 in (13.51 m)
Decks: Orlop, Berth, Gun, Spar
Propulsion: Sail
Armament:
  • 32 × 24-pounder guns(10.9 kg)
  • 22 × 42-pounder guns(19 kg) carronades
  • 1 × 18-pounder (8 kg) long gun
Royal Navy EnsignUnited Kingdom
Name: HMS President
Acquired: 15 January 1815
Fate: Broken up, 1818
General characteristics
Class and type:
  • 50-gun
  • 60-gun (1817)
Tons burthen: 1533  7⁄94 (bm)
Length:
  • 173 ft 3 in (52.8 m) (overall);
  • 146 ft 4 3⁄4 in (44.6 m) (keel)
Beam: 44 ft 4 in (13.5 m)
Depth of hold: 13 ft 11 in (4.2 m)
Armament:
  • 30 × 24-pounder guns (10.9 kg)
  • 28 × 42-pounder (19 kg) carronades
  • 2 × 24-pounder guns (10.9 kg)

USS President was a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy, nominally rated at 44 guns. George Washington named her to reflect a principle of the United States Constitution. She was launched in April 1800 from a shipyard in New York City. President was one of the original six frigates whose construction the Naval Act of 1794 had authorized, and she was the last to be completed. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so President and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. Forman Cheeseman, and later Christian Bergh were in charge of her construction. Her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi War with France and to engage in a punitive expedition against the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.

On 16 May 1811, President was at the center of the Little Belt Affair; her crew mistakenly identified HMS Little Belt as HMS Guerriere, which had impressed an American seaman. The ships exchanged cannon fire for several minutes. Subsequent U.S. and Royal Navy investigations placed responsibility for the attack on each other without a resolution. The incident contributed to tensions between the U.S. and Great Britain that led to the War of 1812.


...
Wikipedia

...