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M4.  War of 1812, USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere

In 1812, the USS Constitution, a 44-gun American frigate commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, engaged in battle with the HMS Guerriere, a 38-gun commanded by the British Captain James Dacres. After a 15-minute exchange of broadsides, Guerriere had suffered significant damage, while Constitution, soon to be nicknamed “Old Ironsides”, was virtually unhurt. Guerriere’s mizzenmast fell, dropping off the starboard side of the vessel and fouling her rigging. With this, Guerriere had lost her ability to maneuver or escape. Seizing his advantage, Hull quickly sailed Constitution in front of Guerriere, placing Constitution’s broadside across Guerriere’s bow. The ships were so close that Guerriere’s bowsprit hung over Constitution’s deck. The Constitution’s guns, at a range too close to miss, fired down the full length of Guerriere’s decks, killing men, dismounting guns, and smashing timbers. Guerriere was a crippled hulk, incapable of fighting, and Dacres surrendered. By the next morning, Hull decided that taking the ship into port as a prize was impractical. He evacuated the British crew to Constitution, and the Guerriere was set alight.  The frigate exploded when the fire reached her magazine.

The battle between Constitution and Guerriere was the first major naval engagement of the War of 1812. The news of Guerriere’s surrender shocked the British, who, since the Napoleonic Wars began, had regularly defeated French ships, even when outgunned. Conversely, the victory rallied American spirits, which had been flagging following setbacks in the Canadian theater of war. The next two frigate duels in the war proved that Constitution’s victory was not a fluke; the fledgling American navy would go on to great success in its first campaign against the world’s premiere maritime power. 

The powerful circular movement of waves draws the viewer into the depth of the picture both elliptically and diagonally, just as the two combatants have closed in on each other. The strong color contrast gives USS Constitution prominence, as befits the victor of the battle.