The challenge - Andrew Lambert

In the summer of 1812 Britain stood alone, fighting for her very
survival against a vast European Empire. Only the Royal Navy stood
between Napoleon's legions and ultimate victory. In that dark hour
America saw its chance to challenge British dominance: her troops
invaded Canada and American frigates attacked British merchant shipping,
the lifeblood of British defence.

War polarised America. The
south and west wanted land, the north wanted peace and trade. But
America had to choose between the oceans and the continent. Within weeks
the land invasion had stalled, but American warships and privateers did
rather better, and astonished the world by besting the Royal Navy in a
series of battles.

Then in three titanic single ship actions the challenge was decisively met. British frigates closed with the Chesapeake, the Essex and the President,
flagship of American naval ambition. Both sides found new heroes but
none could equal Captain Philip Broke, champion of history's greatest
frigate battle, when HMS Shannon captured the USS Chesapeake in
thirteen blood-soaked minutes. Broke's victory secured British control
of the Atlantic, and within a year Washington, D.C. had been taken and
burnt by British troops.