Eyewitness to History

[MongoJerry]

But on that grace, that was the final step in establishing the USN as a naval power— the ultimate proving of its military prowress against a world-class navy. The first step was literally that first mission: the Barbary Wars.

It was an interesting time in our young nation's history, but it hardly established the US's position as a naval power. After all, the British were still able to blockade American ports, resupply their troops in Canada, and sail into the Chesapeake Bay to burn down Washington DC all while fighting a war against Napolean. Now that's what I'd call naval power. The Constitution's victories were significant to the country simply because they were some of the only naval victories that the US had in that war. The USN didn't get in the same league as most European navies until the late 19th century. If you had to point to a war that established the US as "a world naval power," that would probably be the Spanish-American war where we were able to take Cuba and the Philippines from the Spanish and they didn't have the power to stop us. Still, the British remained far ahead of us in power in the beginning of the 20th century -- they had a navy that was more powerful than any two other countries combined at the start of WWI. The US didn't become the dominant naval power in the world until the middle of WWII.