War of 1812
1812–1815
The United States declared war on Britain in June 1812 over the impressment of American seamen and Britain's blockade of trade with Napoleonic France. The US Navy had only a handful of frigates and sloops against the hundreds of the Royal Navy, but its big 44-gun frigates were more powerful than any British frigate, and in 1812 Constitution and United States took or destroyed three of them in four months. The tide turned in 1813, when Shannon took Chesapeake off Boston and the British blockade closed the American coast. On the lakes both sides built fleets from nothing, and Perry's victory on Lake Erie in 1813 and Macdonough's on Lake Champlain in 1814 kept the British from invading the northern states. In 1814 British fleets burned Washington and bombarded Fort McHenry, and in December an expedition against New Orleans fought its way across Lake Borgne. A peace treaty was signed at Ghent on 24 December 1814, but news travelled slowly, and the last sea fights came weeks after it.
How the fleets moved
Click a route to see which ships made it, or a battle for its summary. Routes are approximate.
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British movement
American movement
Battle (size: ships engaged)
Routes are approximate.
Major battles
The 4 biggest of the 18 battles covered here, by ships engaged.
10 September 1813
Battle of Lake ErieOff Put-in-Bay, Lake Erie
American victory; the whole British squadron captured
6 (6 lost)
vs
9
11 September 1814
Battle of Lake ChamplainPlattsburgh Bay, Lake Champlain
American victory; the British squadron captured and the invasion of New York called off
4 (4 lost)
vs
14
13–14 September 1814
Bombardment of Fort McHenryPatapsco River, Baltimore
American victory; the fort held and the British withdrew
6
14 December 1814
Battle of Lake BorgneLake Borgne, near the Rigolets, Louisiana
British victory; all five American gunboats captured
0
vs
7 (7 lost)
Fleets
Each navy's ships in the war, from its biggest down.