Editing William Bainbridge (section)

===First Barbary War===
[[File:BainbridgeTribute.jpg|left|thumb|220px|William Bainbridge pays tribute to the [[Dey of Algiers]]]]
In 1800 during the months before the [[First Barbary War]] broke out, Bainbridge, who was now Capt. of USS George Washington, was given the ignominious task of carrying the [[tribute]] which the United States still paid to the [[Dey]] of [[Algiers]] to secure exemption from capture for U.S. merchant ships in the Mediterranean.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Bainbridge, William|volume=3|page=223|first=David|last=Hannay|authorlink=David Hannay (historian)}}</ref>  Upon arrival in the 24-gun [[USS George Washington (1798)|USS ''George Washington'']], he allowed the harbor pilot to guide him directly under the guns of the fort overlooking the harbor. Upon his arrival the Dey demanded that Bainbridge use his ship to ferry the Algerian ambassador and tributary gifts to [[Constantinople]], and that he fly the Algerian flag during the journey. With ''George Washington'' under the guns of the fort and surrounded by the Dey's warships and military personnel Bainbridge reluctantly complied for fear of imprisonment, raised the Algerian flag on his masthead and delivered gifts of animals and slaves to Constantinople.<ref>{{cite book
  |author-link=Max Boot |last=Boot |first=Max |title=The Savage Wars of Peace |location=[[New York City|New York]]
  |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=046500721X |lccn=2004695066
  |year= 2003 |page=12}}</ref><ref>[[#Tucker|Tucker, 2004]] pages 25–26</ref> After returning to the U.S. on 4 May 1801, he was relieved of command, and was succeeded by Lt. John Shaw as Captain. He commanded [[USS Essex (1799)| USS Essex]] on her second cruise, receiving command from Capt. Preble on 29 May, 1801,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://ibiblio.org/anrs/docs/E/E3/nd_barbarywars_v01p03.pdf |title=Naval Documents related to the United States Wars with the Barbary Powers Volume I Part 3 of 4 1785 through 1801 |pages=480 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |via=Ibiblio |access-date=17 October 2024}}</ref>

[[Thomas Jefferson|President Jefferson]] found that bribing the pirate [[Barbary states]] did not work, and decided to use force. On May 21, 1803, Bainbridge was placed in command of [[USS Philadelphia (1799)|USS ''Philadelphia'']], tasked with enforcing a [[blockade]] of [[Tripoli, Libya]]. Bainbridge ran the [[Ship grounding|ship aground]] on an uncharted reef on October 21, 1803. Bainbridge made the situation worse by putting on all sail before sounding around the boat to determine the actual situation, resulting in driving the ship hard onto the bank.  All efforts to refloat her under five hours of cannon fire from Tripolitan gunboats, inaccurate fire that with no shots coming near the powerful frigate, and Bainbridge decided to surrender. Before doing so he ordered all small arms thrown overboard, the powder magazine flooded and the naval signal book destroyed.<ref>[[#Allen, 1905|Allen, 1905]], p.148</ref> Soon afterward, the ship floated free after high [[tide]] and was captured by the Pasha of Tripoli. Bainbridge and his crewmen were imprisoned in Tripoli for nineteen months.<ref>[[#Barnes1896|Barnes, 1896]] p.79</ref>

Lieutenant [[Stephen Decatur]] commanding {{USS|Intrepid|1798|6}} executed a night raid into [[Tripoli, Libya]] harbor on February 16, 1804, to destroy ''Philadelphia''. Admiral [[Horatio Nelson]] is said to have called this "the most bold and daring act of the Age".<ref Name="Cooper">{{cite journal|last=Cooper|first=James Fenimore|title=Old Ironsides|journal=Putnam's Monthly|volume=I|issue=V|date=May 1853|url=http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/texts/ironsides.html|access-date=20 October 2009|archive-date=December 24, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224083512/http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/texts/ironsides.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Abbot Part 1">Abbot 1896, Volume I, Part I, Chapter XVI</ref><ref>''See'', Leiner, Frederick C., [https://news.usni.org/2012/07/22/searching-nelsons-quote "Searching for Nelson's Quote"], ''[[USNI News]]'', [[United States Naval Institute]], February 5, 2013, setting forth the evidence for and against that quote.</ref>

The capture of ''Philadelphia'' and its crew also motivated President Jefferson's decision to send [[William Eaton (soldier)|William Eaton]], a former Army officer, known for his brash and defiant diplomacy, to Tripoli in 1805 to free the 300 American [[hostage]]s in what was the first U.S. covert mission to [[Regime change|overthrow a foreign government]]. William Eaton established a group of about 20{{dubious|date=January 2013}} Christian (eight of whom were [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]]) and perhaps 100{{dubious|date=January 2013}} Muslim [[mercenary|mercenaries]]{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} to begin the takeover of Tripoli starting with Derna. He managed to trek with the small detachment of Marines led by [[Presley O'Bannon]] and his mercenary force over 500 miles. Supported at sea by [[Isaac Hull]], Captain of {{USS|Argus|1803|6}}, in an effective "combined operation", Eaton led the attack in the [[Battle of Derna (1805)|Battle of Derna]] on 27 April 1805. The town's capture, memorialized in the "[[Marines' Hymn]]" famous line "to the shores of Tripoli" and the threat of further advance on Tripoli, were strong influences toward peace, negotiated in June 1805 by [[Tobias Lear]] and Commodore [[John Rodgers (naval officer, War of 1812)|John Rodgers]] with the [[Pasha of Tripoli]].
[[File:PhiladelphiaAground.jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[USS Philadelphia (1799)|''Philadelphia'']] aground off Tripoli, in 1803]]
After four separate bombardments from Preble's squadron, Bainbridge was released from the prison in Tripoli on June 3, 1805<ref>[[#Barnes1896|Barnes, 1896]] p. 5–304</ref> and returned to the United States and received a warm welcome. Shortly thereafter a Naval Court of Inquiry tasked with looking into his surrender found no evidence of misconduct, and he was allowed to continue serving. On his release, he returned for a time to the merchant service in order to make good the loss of profit caused by his captivity.<ref name="EB1911"/> With the conclusion of the campaign against the Barbary states, the US Navy was downsized and nearly all of her frigates remained in port. Realizing war with the [[United Kingdom]] was imminent Bainbridge and Commodore Stewart hastened to Washington to urge President Jefferson and Congress to strengthen the country's naval forces. They concurred with this timely advice and Congress forced a change to this policy that had led the current naval force to decay in early 1809. Satisfied with the results Bainbridge returned to Boston and took command of the navy yard at Charlestown.<ref>[[#Barnes1896|Barnes, 1896]] page 80</ref>

Bainbridge took command of the [[frigate]] {{USS|President|1800|6}} in 1809 and began patrolling off the Atlantic coast in September of that year. Bainbridge was transferred to shore duty in June, 1810.<ref>[[#Harris|Harris, 1837]] pages 130–131</ref>