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Anav
03-28-2012, 13:13
Today:
1800 - Essex becomes the first U.S. Navy vessel to pass the Cape of Good Hope.
1814 - HMS Phoebe and Cherub capture USS Essex off Valparaiso, Chile. Before capture, Essex had captured 24 British prizes during the War of 1812.

Bligh
03-29-2012, 07:36
Great Scott.
Yet another first for the young American Navy. That calls for a tot in the wardroom.
Bligh.

Capt P
03-29-2012, 16:06
Two against one. Must have been some battle. These are the type of actions I look forward to doing when the ships come out.

csadn
03-30-2012, 15:43
Two against one. Must have been some battle.

Two against two, actually -- _Essex_ has _Essex Junior_ (a prize being used as an auxiliary) in attendance.

And, as has been discussed elsewhere: Neither American ship had any long-range firepower to speak of; the British were able to hang back and pick them apart. (That _Essex_ had lost a maintop in a storm shortly beforehand didn't help.) So the fight was pretty-much a foregone conclusion -- but by then, _Essex_ had accomplished its task, and gutted the British Pacific mercantile fleet.