page_title: USS Congress (1799)
section_title: First Barbary War
hierarchical_section_title: USS Congress (1799) / First Barbary War
caption_attribution_description: English: Relief map of the Mediterranean Sea and surrounding countries
context_page_description: USS Congress was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. James Hackett built her in Portsmouth New Hampshire and she was launched on 15 August 1799. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction the Naval Act of 1794 had authorized. The name "Congress" was among ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering in March of 1795 for the frigates that were to be constructed.Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Congress and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than the standard frigates of the period.
  Her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War. During the War of 1812 she made several extended length cruises in company with her sister ship President and captured, or assisted in the capture of twenty British merchant ships. At the end of 1813, due to a lack of materials to repair her, she was placed in ordinary for the remainder of the war.
context_section_description: During the United States' preoccupation with France during the Quasi-War, troubles with the Barbary States were suppressed by the payment of tribute to ensure that American merchant ships were not harassed and seized. In 1801 Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli, dissatisfied with the amount of tribute he was receiving in comparison to Algiers, demanded an immediate payment of $250,000. In response, Thomas Jefferson sent a squadron of frigates to protect American merchant ships in the Mediterranean and pursue peace with the Barbary States.
  The first squadron, under the command of Richard Dale in President, was instructed to escort merchant ships through the Mediterranean and negotiate with leaders of the Barbary States. A second squadron was assembled under the command of Richard Valentine Morris in Chesapeake however, the performance of Morris's squadron was so poor that he was recalled and subsequently dismissed from the Navy in 1803. A third squadron was assembled under the command of Edward Preble in Constitution and by mid-1804 they had successfully fought the Battle of Tripoli Harbor.
  President Jefferson reinforced Preble's squadron in April and ordered four frigates to sail as soon as possible. President, Congress, Constellation and Essex were placed under the direction of Commodore Samuel Barron. Congress was captained by John Rodgers and two months were spent preparing the squadron for the voyage. They departed in late June and arrived at Gibraltar on 12 August. Congress and Essex were immediately sent to patrol off the coast of Tangier and when they returned to Gibraltar two weeks later, Congress continued on to Tripoli.
  Congress, accompanied by Constellation, assumed blockade duties of Tripoli and captured one xebec before sailing for Malta on 25 October for repairs. On 6 November Rodgers assumed command of Constitution and in his place, Stephen Decatur assumed command of Congress. The next recorded activity of Congress is in early July 1805 when she was sent in company with Vixen to blockade Tunisia. They were joined on the 23rd by additional U.S. Navy vessels. In early September, Congress carried the Tunisian ambassador back to Washington DC. Afterward, placed in ordinary at the Washington Navy Yard, she served as a classroom for midshipmen training through 1807.
caption: Mediterranean Sea area of operation
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