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Tag Archives: Commodore


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The Battle of Tory Island

The Battle of Tory Island, sometimes called the Battle of Donegal, Battle of Lough Swilly or Warren’s Action, is a naval action of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought on October 12, 1798, between French and British squadrons off the northwest coast of County Donegal, then in the Kingdom of Ireland. The last action of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the Battle of Tory Island ends the final attempt by the French Navy to land substantial numbers of soldiers in Ireland during the war.

Britain’s enemies in Continental Europe have long recognised Ireland as a weak point in Britain’s defences. Landing troops there is a popular strategic goal, not only because an invader can expect the support of a large proportion of the native population, but also because at least initially they will face fewer and less reliable troops than elsewhere in the British Isles. Additionally, embroiling the British Army in a protracted Irish campaign will reduce its availability for other theatres of war. Finally, French planners consider that a successful invasion of Ireland might act as the ideal platform for a subsequent invasion of Great Britain.

The Society of United Irishmen, led by Theobald Wolfe Tone, launches an uprising against British rule in Ireland in May 1798. At the request of the rebels, a small French force under General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert is landed at Killala, County Mayo, but by early September both this expedition and the rebellion has been defeated.

Unaware of Humbert’s surrender, the French despatch reinforcements under the command of Commodore Jean-Baptiste-François Bompart on September 16. Having missed one invasion force, the Royal Navy is more watchful. Roving frigate patrols cruise off the principal French ports and in the approaches to Ireland, while squadrons of battleships from the Channel Fleet sail nearby, ready to move against any new invasion force. In command of the squadron on the Irish station is Commodore Sir John Borlase Warren, a highly experienced officer (and politician) who has made a name for himself raiding the French coast early in the war.

The squadron carrying the reinforcements is soon spotted after leaving Brest. After a long chase, the French are brought to battle in a bay off the rugged County Donegal coast in the west of Ulster, very close to Tory Island. During the action the outnumbered French attempt to escape, but are run down and defeated piecemeal, with the British capturing four ships and scattering the survivors. Over the next fortnight, British frigate patrols scour the passage back to Brest, capturing three more ships. Of the ten ships in the original French squadron, only two frigates and a schooner reach safety. British losses in the campaign are minimal.

The battle marks the last attempt by the French Navy to launch an invasion of any part of the British Isles. It also ends the last hopes the United Irishmen have of obtaining outside support in their struggle against the British. After the action, Wolfe Tone is recognised aboard the captured French flagship and arrested. He is brought ashore by the British at Buncrana, on the Inishowen peninsula. He is later tried for treason, convicted, and commits suicide while in prison in Dublin, hours before he is to be hanged.

(Pictured: Attack of the French Squadron under Monsr. Bompart Chef d’Escadre, upon the Coast of Ireland, by a Detachment of His Majesty’s Ships under the Command of Sir J. B. Warren, October 12, 1798, by Nicholas Pocock, 1799)


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Birth of Stephen Clegg Rowan, Vice Admiral in the U.S. Navy

Stephen Clegg Rowan, a vice admiral in the United States Navy, who serves during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War, is born in Dublin on December 25, 1808. He has a 63-year career, which is one of the longest in the history of the United States Navy.

Rowan comes to the United States at the age of ten and lives in Piqua, Ohio. He is a graduate of Miami University and is appointed as a midshipman in the U.S. Navy on February 1, 1826, at the age of seventeen. Later, he takes an active role in the Mexican–American War, serving as executive officer of the sloop-of-war USS Cyane during the capture of Monterey, California on July 7, 1846, and in the occupation of both San Diego and Los Angeles. In January 1847 he leads a provisional battalion, with the nominal rank of major, of seven companies of naval infantry (along with a company of artillery and a company of sappers and miners) for the recapture of Los Angeles.

Captain of the steam sloop USS Pawnee at the outbreak of the American Civil War, he attempts to relieve Fort Sumter and burn the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. In the fall of 1861, he assists in the capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet. Then, taking command of a flotilla in the North Carolina sounds, he cooperates in the capture of Roanoke Island in February 1862. Promoted simultaneously to captain and commodore for gallantry, he then supports the capture of Elizabeth City, Edenton, and New Bern. During the summer of 1863, he commands the broadside ironclad USS New Ironsides on blockade duty off Charleston, South Carolina and the following August assumes command of Federal forces in the North Carolina sounds. During this time the rebel semi-submersible CSS David attacks the USS New Ironsides with a spar torpedo. In the ensuing explosion, one man is killed, and a large hole is torn into the ironclad, but she continues her blockading duties.

Commissioned rear admiral on July 25, 1866, Rowan serves as commandant of the Norfolk Naval Shipyard until 1867, when he assumes command of the Asiatic Squadron. Returning in 1870, he is appointed vice admiral, following the death of Admiral David Farragut and the promotion of Vice Admiral David Dixon Porter in August of that year. In December 1870 he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 62 but, like admirals Farragut and Porter before him, he is allowed to remain on active duty.

Rowan serves as commandant of the New York Navy Yard from 1872 to 1876, as governor of the Philadelphia Naval Asylum at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1881, and as superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., from 1882 until his retirement in 1889.

In 1882 Rowan is elected as a First Class Companion of the District of Columbia Commander of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS). He is assigned MOLLUS insignia number 2510. His son, Hamilton Rowan, an officer in the United States Army, is elected as a Second Class Companion of MOLLUS and becomes a First Class Companion upon his father’s death.

Rowan dies at the age of 81 in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 1890.


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Death of John Barry, Father of the American Navy

John Barry, an officer in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War and later in the United States Navy, dies on September 13, 1803 in present day Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He comes to be widely credited as “The Father of the American Navy,” a moniker he shares with John Paul Jones and John Adams, and is appointed a captain in the Continental Navy on December 7, 1775. He is the first captain placed in command of a U.S. warship commissioned for service under the Continental flag.

After the war, Barry becomes the first commissioned U.S. naval officer, at the rank of commodore, receiving his commission from President George Washington in 1797.

Barry is born on March 25, 1745, in Tacumshane, County Wexford. When his family is evicted from their home by their British landlord, they move to Rosslare on the coast, where his uncle works a fishing skiff. As a young man, Barry determines upon a life as a seaman and he starts out as a ship’s cabin boy.

Barry receives his first captain’s commission in the Continental Navy on March 14, 1776, signed by John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress. Barry is a religious man and begins each day at sea with a reading from the Bible. He has great regard for his crew and their well being and always makes sure they are properly provisioned while at sea. During his naval career Barry commands the USS Delaware, USS Lexington, USS Raleigh, and USS Alliance.

On February 22, 1797, he is issued Commission Number 1 by President George Washington, backdated to June 4, 1794. His title is thereafter “commodore.” He is recognized as not only the first American commissioned naval officer but also as its first flag officer.

Appointed senior captain upon the establishment of the U.S. Navy, he commands the frigate USS United States in the Quasi-War with the French Republic. This ship transports commissioners William Richardson Davie and Oliver Ellsworth to France to negotiate a new Franco-American alliance.

Barry’s last day of active duty is March 6, 1801, when he brings USS United States into port, but he remains head of the Navy until his death.

Barry dies of asthma on September 13, 1803, at Strawberry Hill, in present-day Philadelphia, and is buried in the graveyard of Old St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Center City, Philadelphia.

(Pictured: Portrait of Commodore John Barry, US Navy, by V. Zveg, 1972, from the 1801 portrait by Gilbert Stuart.)