During the
War of 1812The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S...
, the British
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
had two small vessels named HMS
Detroit on Lake ErieLake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
, both named after the nearby Fort DetroitFort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Détroit was a fort established by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701. The location of the former fort is now in the city of Detroit in the U.S...
.
The first Detroit
was originally the United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
brigIn nautical terms, a brig is a vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and maneuverable and were used as both naval war ships and merchant ships. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
Adams
The Adams was a 200-ton brig 1799 to 1812. Built on the River Rouge in 1799 under the US Army. General William Hull was Army commander at Detroit, Michigan. This vessel added to the defenses of that forward outpost. The brig Adams was used to transport troops and supplies to Fort Mackinac and...
, mounting 6 6-pounders, surrendered 16 Aug 1812 with the surrender of Detroit and subsequently used to dominate the lake. However, the Americans recaptured Detroit
on October 9, but could not get the vessel away from shore guns, and burnt it later that day.
Confusingly, the other Detroit
was operating on the same lake during the same time period.
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During the
War of 1812The War of 1812, between the United States of America and the British Empire , lasted from 1812 to 1815. It was fought chiefly on the Atlantic Ocean and on the land, coasts and waterways of North America.There were several immediate stated causes for the U.S...
, the British
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
had two small vessels named HMS
Detroit on Lake ErieLake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
, both named after the nearby Fort DetroitFort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Détroit was a fort established by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701. The location of the former fort is now in the city of Detroit in the U.S...
.
The first Detroit
was originally the United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
brigIn nautical terms, a brig is a vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and maneuverable and were used as both naval war ships and merchant ships. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
Adams
The Adams was a 200-ton brig 1799 to 1812. Built on the River Rouge in 1799 under the US Army. General William Hull was Army commander at Detroit, Michigan. This vessel added to the defenses of that forward outpost. The brig Adams was used to transport troops and supplies to Fort Mackinac and...
, mounting 6 6-pounders, surrendered 16 Aug 1812 with the surrender of Detroit and subsequently used to dominate the lake. However, the Americans recaptured Detroit
on October 9, but could not get the vessel away from shore guns, and burnt it later that day.
Confusingly, the other Detroit
was operating on the same lake during the same time period. This vessel was originally pierced for 20 guns, but was armed with an extremely heterogeneous 19 gun battery, because its intended armament had been interdicted by US naval forces under the command of Commodore Isaac ChaunceyIsaac Chauncey was an officer in the United States Navy.-Biography:Chauncey, born in Black Rock, Connecticut, 20 February 1779, was appointed a Lieutenant in the Navy from 17 September 1798...
on Lake Ontario. Detroit was a corvette (a ship-rigged flush decked vessel), of approximately 490 tons (though there is much debate regarding measurement of tonnage, due both to differences in British and American measures and ways in which tonnage is measured, either in tonnes burthen or in displacement), and was built at
Amherstburg Royal Naval DockyardAmherstburg Royal Naval Dockyard was a Royal Navy yard from 1796 to 1813 in Amherstburg, Ontario. The yard comprised blockhouses, store houses, magazine, wood yard and wharf.Vessels built or serviced at the yard included:...
in Amherstburg. Launched in August 1813, she was captured just a month later, 10 September, in the
Battle of Lake ErieThe Battle of Lake Erie, sometimes referred to as the Battle of Put-in-Bay, was fought on 10 September, 1813, in Lake Erie off the coast of Ohio during the War of 1812. Nine vessels of the United States Navy defeated and captured six vessels of Great Britain’s Royal Navy...
. The vessel was commissioned into the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
as its first
USS DetroitSix ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Detroit, after the city of Detroit, Michigan., a 12-gun ship, was built by the British at Malden, Canada, in 1813 and captured by the Americans during the Battle of Lake Erie 10 September 1813....
, but was badly damaged, never sailed again, and was sold in 1825.