09-04-2003, 08:18 PM
It was with the defeat of the Guerriere that the American Navy demonstrated that it could stroll over to a foreign shore and kick somebody's butt. Prior to that it was very much an academic question. Based in part on the Baltimore clipper design, the first frigates were designed to be fast, agile and could pack a punch. But this was all theoretical until the Constitution proved that it could take on a comparable ship of the tradition steeped British Navy and win. This wasn't an engagement against pirates of Tripoli (who were formidable but certainly not a world naval power), it was a decisive victory against the foremost Naval power on the Oceans.