Editing Quasi-War (section)

==Significant naval actions==
[[File:United States Marine escorting French prisoners.jpg|thumb|A 20th-century illustration depicting [[United States Marine Corps|United States Marines]] escorting French prisoners]]

From the perspective of the U.S. Navy, the Quasi-War consisted of a series of ship-to-ship actions in U.S. coastal waters and the Caribbean; one of the first was the [[Capture of La Croyable|Capture of ''La Croyable'']] on 7 July 1798 by  {{USS|Delaware|1798|2}} outside [[Great Egg Harbor Bay|Egg Harbor, New Jersey]].{{sfn|Mooney|1983|p=84}} On 20 November, a pair of [[French Navy#17th, 18th, and early 19th centuries|French]] [[frigate]]s, [[USS Insurgent (1799)|''Insurgente'']] and [[French frigate Volontaire (1796)|''Volontaire'']], captured the schooner {{USS|Retaliation|1798|6}}, commanded by Lieutenant [[William Bainbridge]]; ''Retaliation'' was recaptured on 28 June 1799.{{sfn|Rust|2023}}

On 9 February 1799, the frigate {{USS|Constellation|1797|2}} [[USS Constellation vs L'Insurgente|captured]] the French Navy's frigate ''L'Insurgente''. By 1 July, under the command of Decatur, {{USS|United States|1797|6}} had been refitted and repaired and embarked on her mission to patrol the South Atlantic coast and West Indies in search of French ships which were preying on American merchant vessels.{{sfn|Mackenzie|1846|p=40}}

In the [[action of 1 January 1800]], an American merchant convoy escorted by {{USS|Experiment|1799|6}} fought off an attack by 14 French privateer barges in the [[Gulf of Gonâve]]. On 1 February, ''Constellation'' [[USS Constellation vs La Vengeance|severely damaged]] the French frigate [[HMS Vengeance (1800)|''La Vengeance'']] off the coast of [[Saint Kitts]], while suffering serious damage itself. [[Silas Talbot]] led a naval expedition during the [[Battle of Puerto Plata Harbor]] in early May, [[Battle of Puerto Plata Harbor|capturing]] a Spanish army controlled coastal fort and a French corvette.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Armstrong |first=Benjamin |title=Small Boats and Daring Men: Maritime Raiding, Irregular Warfare, and the Early American Navy |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |date=April 18, 2019 |isbn=978-0806162829 |pages=48–51}}</ref> When French troops [[Invasion of Curaçao (1800)|occupied Curaçao]] in July, {{USS|Patapsco|1799|6}} and {{USS|Merrimack|1798|6}} bombarded French positions on the island and landed marines to support the local Dutch troops before the French withdrew. On 12 October, the frigate ''Boston'' [[USS Boston vs Berceau|captured]] the corvette {{ship||Le Berceau}}.<ref name="NavyBarbaryI">[[#knox|Knox, 1939]], vol 1</ref>

On 25 October, {{USS|Enterprise|1799|6}} [[USS Enterprise vs Flambeau|defeated]] the French [[brig]] ''Flambeau'' near [[Dominica]]. ''Enterprise'' also captured eight privateers and freed eleven U.S. merchant ships from captivity, while ''Experiment'' captured the French privateers ''Deux Amis'' and ''Diane'' and liberated numerous American merchant ships. Although U.S. military losses were light, the French had seized over 2,000 American merchant ships by the time the war ended.{{sfn|Hickey|2008|pp=67–77}}