Aegean Sea anti-piracy operations of the United States
Aegean Sea anti-piracy operations | |||||||
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Part of the Greek War of Independence | |||||||
Pirates grecs (1838), by Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Pirates | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Unknown | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | Unknown |
Aegean Sea anti-piracy operations began in 1825 when the United States government dispatched a squadron of ships to suppress Greek piracy in the
American merchant vessels were attacked and so the Mediterranean Squadron began escort and patrol duties. The operations terminated in 1828, as piracy ceased.[1][2]
Background
The
From 1825 to 1828, seven American warships were assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron, including the flagship
Operations
Commodore
Wqiling in convoy on October 16, Lieutenant Louis M. Goldsborough of the USS Porpoise liberated the British brig Comet after watching it get captured by 250 pirates in five vessels. In the ensuing battle of Doro Passage, around 90 brigands were killed or wounded, but the Americans suffered no casualties. Three brigs left the convoy at that point and two of them were later attacked. The first brig was captured off Chios and the second was abandoned by her crew before it was captured.
On October 23, one American sailor from the Porpoise was wounded in a skirmish near Andros. USS Warren chased a ten-gun pirate brig on October 25, and it grounded off Argentiere before sinking; the pirates escaped to shore. Warren recovered the American ship Cherub and the Austrian vessel Silence off Syros on October 28, and two days later the Americans captured a pirate tratta propelled by forty oars and landed sailors and marines on Mykonos to recover stolen property from the Cherub, Silence and the Rob Roy. One pirate boat was burned during the landing and the town shelled.[6]
On November 7, a boat expedition from the Warren under the command of Lieutenant William L. Hudson destroyed one pirate boat and captured another off Andros. The Warren also landed men on Argentiere and Milos in December, and convoyed eight American merchant vessels from Milos to Smyrna. In just over two months, the Warren captured or destroyed seven pirate vessels, rescued three merchant ships, recovered stolen property, escorted two convoys, and patrolled hundreds of miles in the Mediterranean. By the end of 1827, the United Kingdom, Russia, and France had deployed their own fleets to the Aegean for suppression of piracy and to support Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire.[7]
In January 1828, a combined fleet of British and French warships attacked Carabusa, which was a major center of piracy. Following its destruction, reports of pirate attacks began to cease, and by the end of 1828, Secretary of the Navy Samuel L. Southard declared that because of the convoy system enforced by the United States Navy and the arrival of powerful fleets in the Aegean, the threat of piracy was eliminated.[2]
See also
References
Footnotes
- ^ Swartz 2003, p. 4.
- ^ a b Wombwell 2010, pp. 84–85.
- ^ Maclay 1894, p. 125.
- ^ Swartz 2003, p. 3.
- ^ Wombwell 2010, p. 76.
- ^ a b Wombwell 2010, pp. 81.
- ^ Wombwell 2010, p. 83.
Bibliography
- OCLC 1046591505.
- Swartz, P. M. (2003). US–Greek Naval Relations Begin: Antipiracy Operations in the Aegean Sea (PDF). Center for Strategic Studies. Alexandria:
- OCLC 1014997544.
- Wombwell, J. A. (2010). "Greek Piracy". The Long War Against Piracy (PDF). Fort Leavenworth: ISBN 9780982328361.