page_title: War of 1812
section_title: Opening strategies
hierarchical_section_title: War of 1812 / Course of war / Atlantic theater / Opening strategies
caption_attribution_description: English: A View of Halifax in Nova Scotia, Taken from Cornwallis Island, with a Squadron Going off to Louisbourg, in the Year 1757
context_page_description: The War of 1812 was a conflict fought between the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and its own allies. It began when the United States declared war in June 1812 and ended in a stalemate when a peace treaty agreed earlier was ratified by the United States in February 1815. While the war ended in a draw, both sides were happy with the outcome that saw the war ending and indigenous nations are generally seen among historians as the real losers. Historians in Britain often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars while historians in Canada and the United States see it as a war in its own right. From the outbreak of war with Napoleonic France in 1803, Britain had enforced a naval blockade to choke off neutral trade to France which the United States contested as illegal under international law. To man the blockade, Britain pressed merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, including Americans. American sentiment grew increasingly hostile toward Britain due to incidents such as the Chesapeake–Leopard affair, five years before the war. The British were outraged by the 1811 Little Belt affair in which eleven British sailors died.
context_section_description: In 1812, Britain's Royal Navy was the world's largest with over 600 cruisers in commission and some smaller vessels, and the world's most powerful Navy following the defeat of the Frenchy Navy at Trafalgar. Most of these were blockading the French navy and protecting British trade against French privateers, but the Royal Navy still had 85 vessels in American waters, counting all North American and Caribbean waters. However, the Royal Navy's American squadron based in Halifax, Nova Scotia numbered one small ship of the line and seven frigates as well as nine smaller sloops and brigs and five schooners. By contrast, the United States Navy was composed of 8 frigates, 14 smaller sloops and brigs, with no ships of the line. The United States had embarked on a major shipbuilding program before the war at Sackets Harbor, New York and continued to produce new ships. Three of the existing American frigates were exceptionally large and powerful for their class, larger than any British frigate in America. The standard British frigate of the time was rated as a 38 gun ship, usually carrying up to 50 guns, with its main battery consisting of 18-pounder. In comparison, USS Constitution, President and United States were rated as 44-gun ships, carrying 56–60 guns with a main battery of 24-pounders.
  The British strategy was to protect their own merchant shipping between Halifax and the West Indies, with the order given on 13 October 1812 to enforce a blockade of major American ports to restrict American trade. Because of their numerical inferiority, the American strategy was to cause disruption through hit-and-run tactics such as the capturing prizes and engaging Royal Navy vessels only under favourable circumstances. Days after the formal declaration of war, the United States put out two small squadrons, including the frigate President and the sloop Hornet under Commodore John Rodgers and the frigates United States and Congress, with the brig Argus under Captain Stephen Decatur. These were initially concentrated as one unit under Rodgers, who intended to force the Royal Navy to concentrate its own ships to prevent isolated units being captured by his powerful force.
  Large numbers of American merchant ships were returning to the United States with the outbreak of war and the Royal Navy could not watch all the ports on the American seaboard if they were concentrated together. Rodgers' strategy worked in that the Royal Navy concentrated most of its frigates off New York Harbor under Captain Philip Broke, allowing many American ships to reach home. However, Rodgers' own cruise captured only five small merchant ships, and the Americans never subsequently concentrated more than two or three ships together as a unit.
caption: The Royal Navy's North American squadron was based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the start of the war, the squadron had one ship of the line, seven frigates, nine sloops as well as brigs and schooners.[152]
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