
Before the animosity between Commodores James Barron and Stephen Decatur culminated in their fatal (for Decatur) duel, the two served together on board one of the U.S. Navy’s first warships, the frigate United States. The nation almost lost the frigate during the Quasi-War with France (1798–1800), and with her, a young wardroom and midshipmen mess that would define the U.S. Navy for the next half century. Barron would take Decatur’s life in 1820, but first he saved him and others of the pantheon of early American naval heroes. Captain John Barry commanded the United States during the Quasi-War. The conflict… Read the rest of this entry »