USS Chesapeake (1799) - Design and Construction

Design and Construction

American merchant vessels began to fall prey to Barbary Pirates, most notably from Algiers, in the Mediterranean during the 1790s. Congress responded with the Naval Act of 1794. The Act provided funds for the construction of six frigates, and directed that the construction would continue unless and until the United States agreed to peace terms with Algiers.

Joshua Humphreys' design was long on keel and narrow of beam (width) to allow for the mounting of very heavy guns. The design incorporated a diagonal scantling (rib) scheme to limit hogging (warping) and included extremely heavy planking. This gave the hull greater strength than those of more lightly built frigates. Since the fledgling United States could not match the numbers of ships of the European states, Humphreys designed his frigates to be able to overpower other frigates, but with the speed to escape from a ship of the line.

Originally designated as "Frigate D", the ship remained unnamed for several years. Her keel was laid down in December 1795 at the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia, where Josiah Fox had been appointed her naval constructor and Richard Dale as superintendent of construction. In March 1796 a peace accord was announced between the United States and Algiers and construction was suspended in accordance with the Naval Act of 1794. The keel remained on blocks in the navy yard for two years.

The onset of the Quasi-War with France in 1798 prompted Congress to authorize completion of "Frigate D", and they approved resumption of the work on 16 July. When Fox returned to Norfolk he discovered a shortage of timber caused by its diversion from Norfolk to Baltimore in order to finish Constellation. He corresponded with Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert, who indicated a desire to expedite construction of the ship and reduce the overall cost. Fox, always an opponent of Humphreys's large design, submitted new plans to Stoddert which called for utilizing the existing keel but reducing the overall dimensions substantially in length and partially of beam. Fox's plans essentially proposed an entirely different design than originally planned by Humphreys. Secretary Stoddert approved the new design plans.

When construction finished, she had the smallest dimensions of the six frigates. A length of 152.8 ft (46.6 m) between perpendiculars and 41.3 ft (12.6 m) of beam contrasted with her closest sisters, Congress and Constellation, which were built to 164 ft (50 m) in length and 41 ft (12 m) of beam. The final cost of her construction was $220,677—the second-least expensive frigate of the six. The least expensive was Congress at $197,246.

During construction, a sloop named Chesapeake was launched on 20 June 1799 but was renamed Patapsco between 10 October and 14 November, apparently to free up the name Chesapeake for "Frigate D". In communications between Fox and Stoddert, Fox repeatedly referred to her as Congress, further confusing matters, until he was informed by Stoddert the ship was to be named Chesapeake, after Chesapeake Bay. She was the only one of the six frigates not named by President George Washington, nor after a principle of the United States Constitution.