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| USS Constitution vs Guerriere by Michel Felice Corne. |
An interesting Hypothetical historical scenario for Black Sails players. the Battle of Sandy Hook, July 1812. Any Napoleonic sea battle rules should work but I had in my mind WarLord Games' Black Seas since some in our club play it.
At the start of the War of 1812 Commodore John Rodgers and Commodore Stephen Decatur took two squadrons to sea. They hoped to wreck some damage on British shipping before knowledge of the war became widespread, especially they hoped to hit a large, rich convoy headed from Jamaica to England.
Rodgers commanded USS President (44), Decatur commanded USS United States (44). Also sailing with the squadron were the USS Congress (38), as well as the brigs USS Hornet (18) and USS Argus (18). In mid-July USS Constitution (44) commanded by Isaac Hull set sail to meet the squadron off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and instead ran into the British Halifax squadron, from which she escaped after a legendary chase.
But what if she had rendezvoused with Rodgers squadron and met the Halifax squadron, commanded by Commodore Philip Broke? We might today study the Battle of Sandy Hook, July 1812, the first squadron encounter between the U.S and Royal navies.
The British squadron which chased USS Constitution consisted of four frigates and a ship of the line. How might an American squadron of all three "super-44s" done against them?
The British squadron was HMS Shannon, commanded by Commodore Philip Vere Broke, a 38-gun Leda-class frigate; HMS Aeolus, Captain James Townsend, a 32-gun Amphion-class fifth-rate frigate; HMS Africa, Captain John Bastard, a 64-gun third-rate ship of the line; HMS Belvidera, Captain Richard Byron, a 36-gun Apollo-class fifth-rate frigate and finally HMS Guerriere, Captain Richard Dacres, a 38-gun frigate formerly of the French Navy.
edited addendum:
My friend Ken has written the scenario up for Black Seas, and down the points to make a "balanced" fight of it.
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| The brigs were removed from the American squadron to keep the points even. Player may choose to add them back in, if they add a brig and a sloop to the British squadron. |
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| Some accounts mention a brig and/or sloop with the British squadron, but I didn't include them as I haven't been able to confirm which ships they were. |
The American "super-44s" had 'over-built' live oak hulls that enabled them to take more damage then British vessels of similar size. All three of the American heavy frigates together make for a powerful squadron, but the Americans have little experience or training with squadron tactics in this sort of battle, just some squadron shore bombardments during the Barbary War a decade earlier. But they have large crews, often twice the size of a British frigates crew, and they are well trained and enthusiastic.
The British have a great deal of experience and the best naval traditions in the world. Their officers are very familiar with squadron maneuvers. But they have had little time for training with the press of the Napoleonic Wars. The Shannon is known as a well-drilled vessel whose crew will prove very skilled at gunnery in future encounters, but other British ships may not fair so well. And their vessels are almost always under-crewed - Britain's policy of pressing sailors at sea from neutral vessels is one of the causes of the conflict.
I don't know much about Black Seas, I haven't yet played it, but this seems like a reasonably balanced scenario. If anyone plays it out, please let me know.
edit 2: A very similar fight was played out and described by "The Fencing Frog" on his blog here.
