Talk:Stephen Decatur

message: I thought he was a Marine Officer ?
:Of course not, no navy would let a Marine captain a ship! I suppose maybe some in the USMC consider him an "honorary Marine" for his unusual willingness to get in there hand-to-hand... Stan 00:55, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I had never heard the legend, but after some checking, I do find corroboration for the legend.  That is fascinating! Auror 16:31, 6 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: Hi, I'm Russian so I don't know the true pronounciation of his name. Is it like French or like English? --Maxrossomachin (talk) 17:23, 8 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  How his name sounds in English? 

message: I have corrected an edit with copyright issues and placed the 'rewrite' in the appropriate sub page here. If there are other items that might need attention please bring it to the attention of any contributing editors here. Thank you. Gwillhickers (talk) 10:40, 7 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Progress: -- The longer passages with similarities in text are being corrected on the 'rewrite' sub page. The common short phrases that appear in the source, I am hoping, pose no copyright issues in their use here.  My apologies once again. -- Gwillhickers (talk) 01:45, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Rewrite

message: His mother is stated to have been Priscilla Pine. In the Wiki piece on his father, Stephen Decatur, Sr., she is named as Ann Pine. ??  Irish Melkite (talk) 13:31, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  His Mother's Name? 

message: I understand that both the commodores fired after the word "two" rather than waiting for the "three". That would render the behaviour of those "alleged" gentlemen less than honest. Stephen Decatur was well-known for his bravery and sense of honour and I really doubt he can resort to such a fellonery. Are we supposed to believe his adversary, who was 11 year older than him, had the ability to woundly hit him? In any case, according to the duel rules, the duel-assistants  had to fire on the cheat sniper. Why did'nt they do that?
::According to the article they were instructed "You are neither to fire before the word 'one', nor after the word 'three'" Which means that they were correct to fire at two. I do not know why you should consider an age difference of 11 years a handicap in a pistol duel.
(Alan3278 (talk) 09:48, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Was the duel unfair? 

message: Endymion and President
The whole tenor of this article is overly hagiographic for instance
"In almost every theater of operation, Decatur's service was characterized with acts of heroism and exceptional performance in the many areas of military endeavor."
but the passage on the battle between Endymion and President is vary inaccurate. Decatur surrended to Endymion ( a more lightly armed ship ) long before the other ships in the squadron came near. Endymion was not disabled to the extent suggested in the article. Please see "The Challenge", Andrew Lambert
Alan3278 (talk) 13:56, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Endymion and President 

message: This quote seems to be incorrectly worded. As far as I can tell, it should be "Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right' but our country, right or wrong!" I couldn't find anywhere on the internet besides wikipedia and wikiquotes that does not use this version, so I assume it to be correct.  Zraans (talk) 03:41, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Our Country, Right or Wrong 

message: Correcting "Mohawk Point" to "Montauk Point", since the location of the British fleet disagrees with the two online sources cited.
The edit that introduced "Mohawk Point" was 
509722862
This edit says:
...Hardy's squadron, which emerged from behind Mohawk Point, consisted of the ships...
# The first source, Waldo, pp. 199-200, says: "At this moment the remainder of the British squadron - a 74 a Razee and a frigate showed themselves coming from their covert behind Montauk Point."
# The second source, Fenimore, p. 22, says: "..., the three vessels got under way, and passed Hell Gte on the 27th of May, with a view to run off the coast between Montauk and Block Island.  It was June the 1st before the ships found an opportunity to pass through the race: but they were met at the end of island by a greatly superior force, and were chased into New London.  "
 
This makes sense as Montauk Point is south east of the fast running entrance to Long Island Sound. 
Further, online searches find no "Mohawk Point" on the Eastern Seaboard.
--Lent (talk) 03:30, 14 May 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Blockade at New London 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: :Here is just a sampling of some of the items deleted, all directly involving Decatur:
::* a squadron under the command of Commodore John Rodgers in President, along with Commodore Stephen Decatur of United States, Argus, Essex and Hornet, departed from the harbor at New York City.
::* After overseeing the completion of gunboats, Decatur returned to Norfolk in March 1807 and was given command of the Naval Yard at Gosport. While commissioned there he received a letter from the residing British consul to turn over three deserters from the British ship Melampus
::*...an event whose controversy would lead to a duel between Barron and Decatur some years later, as Decatur served on Barron's court-martial and later was one of the most outspoken critics of the questionable handling of Chesapeake'
::* Preble divided his gunboats into two divisions, putting Decatur in command of the second division. 
::* Decatur's vessel was made to look like a common merchant ship from Malta and was outfitted with British colours.
::* As Decatur's ship came closer to Philadelphia, Catalano called out to the harbor personnel in Arabic that their ship had lost its anchors during a recent storm and was seeking refuge at Tripoli for repairs.
::* As Decatur approached the berthed Philadelphia he encountered a light wind that made his approach tedious.
::* Because of Decatur's great successes in the War of 1812 and for his knowledge of and past experience at the Algerian port, Crowninshield chose him to command the lead ship...
::* Decatur surprised the few Tripolitans on board when he shouted the order "board!", signaling to the hidden crew below to emerge and storm the captured ship
There were many more such statements that were removed wholesale. What's also troubling is that many of the comments in edit history were very misleading and often simply wrong.
::e.g."deleting Leopard-Chesapeake affair which has nothing whatsoever to do with Decatur". 
Also, some of the other comments in edit history were rather sarcastic and sometimes derogatory. -- Having said that, I will work to trim any text that really goes far afield. -- Gwillhickers (talk) 18:27, 5 April 2018 (UTC)
thread_title: Examples :