William Bainbridge William Bainbridge ( May 7 , 1774 – July 27 , 1833 ) was a Commodore in the United States Navy . During his long career in the young American Navy he served under six presidents beginning with John Adams and is notable for his many victories at sea . He commanded several famous naval ships , including the USS " Constitution " and saw service in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812 . Bainbridge was also in command of the USS " Philadelphia " when it grounded off the shores of Tripoli in North Africa , resulting in his capture and imprisonment for many months . In the latter part of his career he became the U . S . Naval Commissioner . Early life . William Bainbridge was born in Princeton , New Jersey , eldest son of Dr . Absalom Bainbridge and Mary ( Taylor ) Bainbridge . His father , a loyalist during the American Revolution , served as a surgeon in the British Army and was convicted of high treason by the State of New Jersey and successfully filed for damages with the American Loyalist Claims Commission . He had two brothers : Joseph , who also became a Navy captain , and John T . ; and a sister , Mary . He was raised by his maternal grandfather , John Taylor , Esq . , of Middleton , New Jersey as his father left for England in 1783 and his mother remained behind due to her ill health ( though his father returned to the United States and died in New York City in 1807 ) . Pre naval service . In his teens William Bainbridge was already of athletic and manly build and had an energetic and adventurous spirit . He was trained as a seaman in ships in the Delaware river , then considered the best ' school ' for seamanship because of the great skill required to navigate that river . Bainbridge served aboard the small merchant ship " Cantor " in 1792 . In 1796 after returning from Brazil , Bainbridge served aboard the merchant ship " Hope " , a small vessel of 140 tons with four nine - pound guns . While in port in the Garonne river at Bordeaux preparing for his fourth voyage , Bainbridge , after being hailed for help from a nearby ship , put down a mutiny while outnumbered by seven seaman . In the effort Bainbridge was badly wounded nearly losing his life . For his courage and in recognition of his navigational and seaman skills he was made commander of that ship in 1796 at the age of nineteen . After leaving France that same year he sailed to the Caribbean . While in port at St . Johns , Bainbridge was hailed by an English schooner , but refused to stop . The English vessel fired guns in response where Bainbridge and his crack crew quickly turned about and with only two guns to a broadside , inflicted enough damage that forced the enemy ship to strike colors and surrender . Service in US Navy . Bainbridge saw service in several wars and commanded a number of famous early U . S . Navy vessels including the USS " George Washington " , the USS " Philadelphia " and the USS " Constitution " , ultimately becoming a member of the board of naval commissioners during the latter part of his long naval career . Quasi war . With the organization of the United States Navy in 1798 , Bainbridge was included in the naval officer corps and in September 1798 was appointed commanding Lieutenant of the schooner USS " Retaliation " . He was ordered to patrol the waters in the West Indies along with Captain Williams of the " Norfolk " , both of whom were under the command of Murray who was in command of the frigate " Montezuma " . On November 20 , 1798 , Lt . Bainbridge surrendered the " Retaliation " without resistance to two French frigates , the " Le Volontier " , with 44 guns and " l ' Insurgente " bearing 40 guns , after he mistook them for British warships and approached them without identifying them . Bainbridge and his crew were taken aboard the " Volontier " where the two French frigates continued in their pursuit of other nearby American vessels . During the flight to capture the Americans , Bainbridge offered words of caution to the French commander of " L ' Insurgente " , Captain St . Laurent , about American strength ; this made St . Laurent wait for his consorts far behind him . The " Retaliation " was the first ship in the nascent United States Navy to be surrendered . Bainbridge was not disciplined for this action . In March 1799 , Bainbridge was appointed Master Commandant of the brig USS " Norfolk " of 18 guns and ordered to cruise against the French . First Barbary war . In 1800 during the months before the First Barbary War broke out , Bainbridge was given the ignominious task of carrying the tribute which the United States still paid to the Dey of Algiers to secure exemption from capture for U . S . merchant ships in the Mediterranean . Upon arrival in the 24 - gun USS " George Washington " , he allowed the harbor pilot to guide him directly under the guns of the fort overlooking the harbor . Upon his arrival the Dey demanded that Bainbridge use his ship to ferry the Algerian ambassador and tributary gifts to Constantinople , and that he fly the Algerian flag during the journey . With the " George Washington " under the guns of the fort and surrounded by the Dey ' s warships and military personnel Bainbridge reluctantly complied for fear of imprisonment and raised the Algerian flag on his masthead and delivered gifts of animals and slaves to Constantinople . President Jefferson found that bribing the pirate Barbary states did not work , and decided to use force . On May 21 , 1803 , Bainbridge was placed in command of the USS " Philadelphia " , tasked with enforcing a blockade of Tripoli . Bainbridge mistakenly ran the ship aground on an uncharted reef on October 21 , 1803 . All efforts to refloat her under five hours of cannon fire from Tripolitan gunboats and shore batteries failed , and Bainbridge decided to surrender . Before doing so he ordered all small arms thrown overboard , the powder magazine flooded and the naval signal book destroyed . Soon afterward , the ship floated free after high tide and was captured by the Pasha of Tripoli . Bainbridge and his crewmen were imprisoned in Tripoli for nineteen months . Lieutenant Stephen Decatur commanding the USS " Intrepid " executed a night raid into Tripoli harbor on February 16 , 1804 to destroy the " Philadelphia " . Admiral Horatio Nelson is said to have called this " the most bold and daring act of the Age " . The capture of the " Philadelphia " and its crew also motivated President Jefferson ' s decision to send William Eaton , a former Army officer , known for his brash and defiant diplomacy , to Tripoli in 1805 to free the 300 American hostages in what was the first U . S . covert mission to overthrow a foreign government . William Eaton established a group of about 20 Christian ( eight of whom were U . S . Marines ) and perhaps 100 Muslim mercenaries to begin the takeover of Tripoli starting with Derna . He managed to trek with the small detachment of Marines led by Presley O ' Bannon and his mercenary force over 500 miles . Supported at sea by Isaac Hull , Captain of the USS " Argus " , in an effective " combined operation " , Eaton led the attack in the Battle of Derna on 27 April 1805 . The town ' s capture , memorialized in the " Marines ' Hymn " immortal " to the shores of Tripoli " and the threat of further advance on Tripoli , were strong influences toward peace , negotiated in June 1805 by Tobias Lear and Commodore John Rodgers with the Pasha of Tripoli . After four separate bombardments from Preble ' s squadron , Bainbridge was released from the prison in Tripoli on June 3 , 1805 and returned to the United States and received a warm welcome . Shortly thereafter a Naval Court of Inquiry tasked with looking into his surrender found no evidence of misconduct , and he was allowed to continue serving . On his release , he returned for a time to the merchant service in order to make good the loss of profit caused by his captivity . With the conclusion of the campaign against the Barbary states , the US Navy was downsized and nearly all of her frigates remained in port . Realizing war with the United Kingdom was imminent Bainbridge and Commodore Stewart hastened to Washington to urge President Jefferson and Congress to strengthen the country ' s naval forces . They concurred with this timely advice and Congress forced a change to this policy that had led the current naval force to decay in early 1809 . Satisfied with the results Bainbridge returned to Boston and took command of the navy yard at Charleston . Bainbridge took command of the frigate USS " President " in 1809 and began patrolling off the Atlantic coast in September of that year . Bainbridge was transferred to shore duty in June , 1810 . War of 1812 . On 15 September , shortly after the War of 1812 broke out between the United Kingdom and the United States , Bainbridge was appointed to command the 44 - gun frigate USS " Constitution " , in succeeding Captain Isaac Hull . The " Constitution " was a fine ship of 1 , 533 tons , which had already captured the HMS " Guerrière " . Under Bainbridge , she was sent to cruise in the South Atlantic . On 29 December 1812 , Bainbridge fell in with the 38 - gun HMS " Java " , off the coast of Brazil . The " Java " was a vessel of 1 , 083 tons , formerly the French frigate " Renommée " . She had a crew of 400 men under Captain Henry Lambert and was on her way to the East Indies , carrying the newly appointed Lieutenant - General Hislop of Bombay and his staff along with despatches to St . Helena , Cape of Good Hope and every British port in the Indian and China Seas . She had an inexperienced crew with only a very few trained seamen , and her men had only had one day ' s gunnery drill . In addition to her crew , " Java " was carrying more than four hundred officers and seamen who were to join the British fleet in the East Indies , among them Captain John Marshall who was to take command of a sloop of war stationed there . Under Bainbridge , the " Constitution " had a crack crew who were well drilled in gunnery ; the crew of the " Java " was not . The " Java " was virtually cut to pieces , with its rigging almost completely destroyed , and was forced to surrender , while having inflicted little damage to the " Constitution " , other than removing " Constitution " s helm with a lucky shot . During the action , Bainbridge was wounded twice , but maintained command throughout ; even replacing the missing helm on the " Constitution " with the one from the " Java " before she was destroyed and sank . To this day , the still - commissioned " Constitution " ( anchored in Boston Harbor ) sports the helm that Bainbridge salvaged from the " Java " . " Java " ' s crew was taken prisoner and put aboard the " Constitution " in the hold . Because of the heavy damage inflicted on " Java " and the great distance from the American coast , Bainbridge decided to burn and sink the British frigate . On March 3 , 1813 , President Madison presented Bainbridge with the Congressional Gold Medal for his service aboard the " Constitution " . Second Barbary War . After the conclusion of the war with Britain , the United States engaged in the Second Barbary War of 1815 ( also known as the " Algerian War " ) . It was the second of two wars fought between the United States and the Ottoman Empire ' s North Africa n regencies of Tripoli , Tunis , and Algeria known collectively as the Barbary states . On March 3 , 1815 , the U . S . Congress authorized deployment of naval power against Algiers , and two squadrons were assembled and readied for war . Bainbridge served against the Barbary pirates and was commander of the US squadron sent to Algiers to enforce a blockade , show the extent of American naval resources and determination and enforce the neutrality and peace that was established by Stephen Decatur and William Shaler . The war ended in 1815 . See also : Piracy in the Caribbean Later life . In 1820 , Bainbridge served as second for Stephen Decatur in a duel with James Barron that cost Decatur his life . Decatur ' s wife , along with many historians , believe that Bainbridge had actually harbored a long - standing resentment of the younger more famous Decatur and arranged the duel that made the likely wounding or killing of one or more duelists very likely . Between 1824 and 1827 , he served on the Board of Navy Commissioners . He died in Philadelphia and was buried there at the Christ Church Burial Ground . Legacy . Several ships of the Navy have since been named USS " Bainbridge " in his honor , including the U . S . Navy ' s first destroyer ( DD - 1 ) , a unique nuclear - powered destroyer / cruiser ( CGN - 25 ) , and a contemporary " Arleigh Burke " - class destroyer ( DDG 96 ) . This last ship is known as the ship that rescued the MV Maersk Alabama in the recent hijacking by Somali pirates . Bainbridge Island , Washington is named after Commodore Bainbridge , as well as Bainbridge Township , Ohio ; Bainbridge , Georgia ; Bainbridge , Indiana ; Bainbridge , New York ; Bainbridge Street in Philadelphia ; Bainbridge Street in Richmond , Virginia , and Old Bainbridge Road in Tallahassee , Florida . The now - deactivated Bainbridge Naval Training Center in Port Deposit , Cecil County , Maryland , was named for him . Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx , New York , is also named for William Bainbridge , it runs near Decatur Avenue , named for Stephen Decatur , Jr . in the Norwood section of the Bronx . Bainbridge Street in Montgomery , Alabama , on which is located the state capitol building of Alabama , is named for Bainbridge . Parallel to Bainbridge Street and beginning directly to its west are streets named for other Barbary War / War of 1812 naval heroes : Decatur Street , named for Stephen Decatur ; Hull Street , named for Isaac Hull ; McDonough Street , named for Thomas Macdonough ; Lawrence Street , named for James Lawrence and Perry Street , named for Oliver Hazard Perry . Bibliography . < br > Further reading