The First Battle of Tripoli Harbor was a naval battle fought on May 16, 1802, in

Tripoli Harbor The Port of Tripoli is the principal sea port in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, and one of the oldest ports in the Mediterranean. The port serves general cargo, bulk cargo & passengers. History Since Roman Libya the port of Tripoli (then calle ...

between a combined force consisting of the American frigate and two

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels o ...

frigates against several Tripolitan Barbary corsairs. The Swedish-American force was enforcing the

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are le ...

when an engagement broke out between it and Tripolitan forces. The Allied fleet damaged the Tripolitan squadron as well as the harbor fortifications before withdrawing and resuming the blockade.

Background

USS ''Boston'' under

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

McNeill had been sent to

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

to blockade the port and prevent any ships from entering or leaving. Leaving for Tripoli in January she discovered that four Swedish ships had already begun a blockade of the port. Along with the Swedish vessels she attempted to chase down corsairs attempting to break the blockade with little success, as the Swedish vessels were quite large and cumbersome making it difficult for them to pursue the small Tripolitan

galley A galley is a type of ship that is propelled mainly by oars. The galley is characterized by its long, slender hull, shallow draft, and low freeboard (clearance between sea and gunwale). Virtually all types of galleys had sails that could be used ...

s that darted in and out of the port's harbor.

Battle

On May 16, ''Boston'' with the Swedish frigate ''Fröja'' managed to chase down a Tripolitan corsair (a ship owned and staffed by Muslim Slave Traders), disabling it by forcing it to beach itself. Six other corsairs then sortied from the harbor in an attempt to screen the first one. The American and Swedish frigates managed to deter their attempts until another ship arrived in the harbor. The Swedish frigate began bombarding the harbor fortifications while ''Boston'' left to meet the new vessel. This gave the corsairs an opportunity to make another attempt at assisting the beached vessel. Shortly thereafter ''Boston'' realized that the newly arrived ship was merely another Swedish frigate. Realizing his mistake, Captain McNeil turned his ship around and engaged the Tripolitan ships once more firing several broadsides into them and damaging several. The action then concluded with the three frigates resuming their blockade stations having taken no damage while inflicting several losses on the enemy.

Aftermath

The action did little to prevent corsairs from using Tripoli as a base of operations. Besides this action, no other serious attempt was made by the blockading squadron to enforce the blockade. later arrived to bolster the attempt at denying the harbors use by the Tripolitans. The Swedish decided to make their own peace with Tripoli, leaving the two American frigates to enforce the blockade themselves, but the Americans soon ran short of provisions and also withdrew, thereby lifting the blockade and leaving the port open to the enemy.

References

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1802 in Africa 1802 in the Ottoman Empire Naval battles involving Ottoman Tripolitania May 1802 events