Barbary pirates

The History of the U.S. Coast Guard

By Blaine Taylor

On August 4, 1790, at the urging of Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, the United States Congress authorized the construction of 10 armed revenue cutters. Read more

Barbary pirates

Sinking the USS Reuben James

By Joseph Connor, Jr.

When the destroyer USS Reuben James (DD-245) was assigned to convoy duty in the North Atlantic in the autumn of 1941, its crew had a sense of foreboding and feared the worst. Read more

Barbary pirates

The National Museum of the Marine Corps

By Al Hemingway

Twenty miles outside Washington, D.C., at Quantico, Virginia, motorists traveling on Interstate 95 will come upon an unusual building that is clearly visible, day or night. Read more

Barbary pirates

‘General’ William Eaton: To The Shores of Tripoli…

By Mark S. Longo

Most Americans can recite the second line of the immortal “Marine Hymn” by memory, but few actually know what it means. Read more

Barbary pirates

Commodore Thomas Macdonough During the First Barbary War

by Steven Ossad

In the harbor of Tripoli, the 38-gun frigate USS Philadelphia, pride of the Mediterranean Squadron, lay at anchor. Read more