Six frigates : the epic history of the founding of the U.S. Navy / Ian W. Toll.
Material type: TextPublication details: New York : W.W. Norton & Co., c2006.Edition: 1st edDescription: xii, 560 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 25 cmISBN:- 0393058476 (hardcover)
- United States. Navy -- History -- 18th century
- United States. Navy -- History -- 19th century
- Frigates -- United States -- History -- 18th century
- Frigates -- United States -- History -- 19th century
- United States -- History -- Tripolitan War, 1801-1805 -- Naval operations
- United States -- History -- War of 1812 -- Naval operations
- United States -- History, Naval -- 18th century
- United States -- History, Naval -- 19th century
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult Book | Main Library | NonFiction | 359.00973 T651 | Available | 33111004507170 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
How "a handful of bastards and outlaws fighting under a piece of striped bunting" humbled the omnipotent British Navy.
Before the ink was dry on the U.S. Constitution, the establishment of a permanent military had become the most divisive issue facing the new government. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect American commerce against the Mediterranean pirates, or drain the treasury and provoke hostilities with the great powers? The foundersparticularly Jefferson, Madison, and Adamsdebated these questions fiercely and switched sides more than once. How much of a navy would suffice? Britain alone had hundreds of powerful warships.
From the decision to build six heavy frigates, through the cliffhanger campaign against Tripoli, to the war that shook the world in 1812, Ian W. Toll tells this grand tale with the political insight of Founding Brothers and a narrative flair worthy of Patrick O'Brian. According to Henry Adams, the 1812 encounter between USS Constitution and HMS Guerriere "raised the United States in one half hour to the rank of a first class power in the world." 16 pages of illustrations; 8 pages of color.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [525]-540) and index.
Notes on language and nautical terminology -- To provide and maintain -- To the shores of Tripoli -- England again -- Chronology of later events: 1815-2005.