1812: The Navy's War

Daughan follows his award -wining If by Sea, about the American navy in the Revolutionary War, with a solidly researched, well-crafted account of U.S. sea power in the War of 1812. There is little new information on the U.S. Navy proper, because despite some notable ship-to-ship victories, the fleet was so small and so quickly driven from the seas. Daughan's achievement is contextualizing the effect of those victories on three levels. The navy's performance convinced critics that a strong navy was indispensable to its protection and did not threaten the Constitution. Second, the performances of individual warships generated increasing British respect, both in the Royal Navy and in the administration, for American abilities at sea. Over the previous century, British warships had come to assume superiority in single-ship actions. Such fights as Constitution versus Guerriere impelled rethinking the subject. Finally, the successes of American privateers against British shipping drove costs higher than the business community was willing to accept without protest. The treaty ending the war provided numerous unresolved grounds for renewed conflict. What kept the peace, Daughan argues provocatively, was America's postwar commitment to "a strong navy, an adequate professional army, and the financial reforms necessary to support them"%E2%80%94in other words, an effective deterrent. 20 b&w illus. (Oct.)