Key Battles of the Barbary Wars, Episode 5: The Destruction of the USS Philadelphia

Key Battles of American History

History

4.7 • 861 Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2024

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The USS Philadelphia, launched in 1799, played a crucial role in early American naval history but was captured by Tripolitan forces in 1803 after running aground near Tripoli during the Barbary Wars. Captain William Bainbridge attempted to prevent its capture by lightening the ship and destroying key materials but was ultimately forced to surrender, leading to his crew’s captivity and increased ransom demands. Commodore Preble responded by planning to destroy the Philadelphia to prevent it from strengthening Tripoli's forces, selecting Lieutenant Stephen Decatur for a daring raid to set the frigate ablaze. Decatur and his crew succeeded in a swift, covert operation that won admiration back in the U.S. and internationally, shifting the balance of the war in America’s favor.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding
0:10.8	right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its
0:16.5	size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.
0:24.0	Welcome to Key Battles of American History,
0:26.8	a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.
0:32.8	Here is your host, James Early.
0:43.5	Thank you. your host, James Early. Welcome back to our series, key battles of the Barbary Wars.
0:47.0	In the last episode, we saw that America was fed up with constantly being held for ransom
0:52.1	from the Barbary pirates.
0:53.8	They managed to eke out some sort of trade status quo in the 1790s.
0:58.0	But finally, the request for tribute went too high.
1:02.4	The Barbary States declared war against the United States.
1:05.2	This leads to a flotilla going to the Mediterranean,
1:08.1	and this is going from a Cold War to a hot war.
1:12.1	I'm joined, as always,
1:18.3	by James Early, the co-host, co-captain, whatever you want to call it, co-pilot of this.
1:24.1	So, James, we're talking a little bit about this particular episode. It's going to be about the loss of the USS Philadelphia, which is a proud but small frigate. And it got me
1:29.7	thinking, well, we did our series on key battles of World War II in the Pacific. One episode
1:34.3	would be on something like the Battle Midway where you have hundreds of different planes
1:37.9	and you're fighting over an area, basically the size of Russia, but at sea. Here we're zeroing in
1:43.8	on one frigate. So I don't know what
1:46.0	this says in a meta sense, but obviously this is a smaller war, but I don't know. What do you
	...

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