You silly. That’s Islams greatest contribution to our nation. A top knotch Navy.
“You silly. That’s Islams greatest contribution to our nation. A top knotch Navy.”
The Islamics deserve no credit, unless one is infatuated with a threat.
The US Navy - such as it was - began its buildup under the administrations of George Washington and John Adams, more in response to the depredations of the French during the Quasi War than anything, and a general recognition that no one would take the country seriously, unless it acquired some military strength.
Thomas Jefferson disliked the notion of a blue water Navy: he feared it would encourage imperial ambitions. He attempted to reverse what had been done, and float a bevy of small gunboats for coastal defense. When the War of 1812 began, the country was lucky that the bureaucracy moved slowly; much of the real fleet was still usable. The gunboats proved helpless against Britain’s Royal Navy.
President Jefferson did not “send in the Marines” - local US officials did that on their own hook because communications were too slow with DC to get anything useful done. Lt Presley O’Bannon and his eight or ten Marines did march from Alexandria to Derna, a true feat of endurance and pluck, but one that mattered hardly at all in the greater conflict.
The unpleasant geostrategic truth was that all seafaring trading nations dealt with the Barbary pirates in various ways, as seemed prudent. All - the United States included - paid ransom or tribute, or took direct military action, or applied diplomacy according to the needs of the moment, and the best guess as to what might succeed. “Millions for defense, not one penny for tribute” was never more than a campaign slogan.
After besting the Royal Navy in single-ship encounters, and managing to avoid being totally wiped out, the US Navy came out of the War of 1812 with a greatly enhanced reputation, for the quality of its weapons and ships, and the seamnanship and courage of its crews. The Algerians attempted more moves against US merchant traffic; President Madison got Congress to declare war in February 1815, and sent two powerful squadrons immediately. They captured key Algerian vessels without missing a beat; suddenly the Barbary leaders had far less enthusiasm for a fight. Peace talks came right along, and a treaty was signed by July. Speedy, even by modern standards.
Islamic piracy of the day declined but slowly, over the next couple decades, thanks to a combination of factors. The Ottoman Turks roused from their torpor and brought the Barbary provinces under more complete control; after the final defeat of Napoleon, the Royal Navy put together a large naval force, and it sailed into several harbors, then bombarded the coastal cities into rubble. The sort of response that would be condemned today, by wimpy public opinion, and the self-appointed moral arbiters who really think international law has meaning.
But Thomas Jefferson does not deserve the credit bestowed on him by the pjtn.org article. The US Marines, though, predate the Barbary Wars by a fair spell. They predate the founding of the country, coming into existence on 10 November 1775.