User:Tirronan/sandbox

On 25 October, the USS United States commanded by Captain Decatur captured the British frigate HMS Macedonian. The Macedonian was by far the better sailing ship. Macedonian's captain John S Carden used this to keep the weather gage. Decatur hove round to two points off the wind forcing Macedonian into a stern chase on a parallel course. Macedonian was faster as the USS United States was a notoriously slow sailor. W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition. Macedonian closed the distance slowly. A deliberate tactic, this allowed for the superior range of United States' 24lber guns. At 0900 hours both ships fired long-range broadsides to no effect. At 0920 United States open fire again. This time Macedonian lost several carronades, her mizzen topmast, and her driver gaff. Macedonian had lost her sailing advantage. Decatur used this to his advantage to take a raking fire from Macedonian’s quarter. The results were horrific, cannonballs were flying through both sides of Macedonian, and the crew was slaughtered. Within 15 minutes of the 1st telling broadside, the main topmast fell, followed by the mizzenmast. Macedonian had over 100 holes in her hull, with many of her guns dismounted. Carden felt that he had to surrender. Toll, Ian W.. Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy (Kindle Location 7368). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition. It took two weeks to repair Macedonian and set sail to America. . Carden felt that he had to surrender.