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Clippers, outrunning the British blockade of Baltimore, came to be recognized as ships built for speed rather than cargo space; while traditional merchant ships were accustomed to average speeds of under 5 knots (9 km/h), clippers aimed at 9 knots (17 km/h) or better.
In just two months, 11 American vessels were seized, eight by the Algerines alone, and more than a hundred Americans were languishing as captives in North African hellish prisons. After much strident debate, Congress reacted to this new threat by passing the Naval Act of 1794 in March of that year.
The history of the United States Navy divides into two major periods: the "Old Navy", a small but respected force of sailing ships that became notable for innovation in the use of ironclads during the American Civil War, and the "New Navy" the result of a modernization effort that began in the 1880s and made it the largest in the world by 1943.
During the American Revolution, the British began to replace the lateen mizzen course with a new, larger gaff and boom sail called a spanker, and this was gradually taken up by all warships, although even in the Royal Navy it was not fully adopted for some years.
15 kwi 2017 · In 1848, the Franklin expedition’s two ships, H.M.S. Erebus and H.M.S. Terror, disappeared with all their crew while searching for the Northwest Passage. Their fate is one of the enduring...
As the sun rose on 21 October 1805, the most famous naval battle of the Age of Sail was about to begin off the southwest coast of Spain. On board HMS Victory , Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson was busy signaling his fleet as it bore down on its Franco-Spanish opponents.
Many ironclads were built to make use of the naval ram, the torpedo, or sometimes both (as in the case with smaller ships and later torpedo boats), which several naval designers considered the important weapons of naval combat.
