Toby Moore: U.S. Navy - to the shores of the Tripoli – Shaw Local

In the summer of 1803, six American warships sliced through the Atlantic, crewed by fewer than 2,000 barely trained men – farm boys, fishermen, and dockhands.

The newly formed U.S. was broke, its Navy skeletal, its trade raided by Barbary pirates from North Africa, bleeding off an estimated 20% of American maritime commerce.

Their orders: Reach Tripoli and challenge a rogue regime that extorted even the greatest empires. Few expected them to return.

For generations, European powers had bought peace with gold – but as Barbary raids on American merchants escalated, President Thomas Jefferson faced a choice: Submit, or fight with a navy that barely existed.

When the Americans arrived, the enemy was waiting – light, fast and ruthless. They were outnumbered, but not outmatched.

The America