Editing Richard Somers (section)

==Legacy==
News of Somers' death would take some months to arrive to the [[United States of America|United States]], with newspapers in New York and New Jersey reporting on the assault in January 1805. Some reports suggested the premature detonation to be a deliberate act by Somers to avoid capture by approaching sailors, an account which led to Somers' depiction as a [[martyr]] within the American Navy. However, the true reasons for the explosion remain unclear and no reliable account is known from the ''Intrepid''{{'s}} final moments.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cray |first1=Robert |title=Remembering Richard Somers: Naval Martyrdom in the Tripolitan War |journal=The Historian |date=2006 |volume=68 |issue=2 |page=268 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.2006.00143.x |jstor=24453316 |s2cid=145380708 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24453316 |access-date=26 September 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Somers is buried in [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]], alongside the bodies of other sailors recovered from the explosion.<ref name=EffortUnderWay/> In 2004, the [[New Jersey State Assembly]] passed two resolutions calling for the return of his remains. It was hoped that with [[2011 Libyan Civil War|the fall]] of [[Muammar Gaddafi]]'s regime in Libya in August 2011 that the remains might finally be repatriated, but efforts by diplomatic staff and relatives of Somers in the United States remained unsuccessful as of 2015.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/local/20150126_Fears_for_early_American_Naval_crew_still_buried_in_Libya.html |title=Fears for early American Naval crew still buried in Libya |first=Edward |last=Colimore |newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]] |location=Somers Point, New Jersey |date=2015-01-26 |access-date=2021-01-25}}</ref>

Since 1804, six ships of the US Navy have successively been named the [[USS Somers|USS ''Somers'']] in his honor.

The town of [[Somers, New York]], located in [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]] is named in his honor. [[Somers Point, New Jersey]], is named after Richard's great-grandfather.  Every year there is a Richard Somers Day celebration in Somers Point.