HMS Shannon hoves into view

Yeah the constitution was a really good design, but not good enough to hold a candle to the RN of the time

It was successful enough to outrun what it couldn't outgun or outgun what it couldn't outrun, and indeed as shown by the 57-hour chase involving 5 smaller Royal Navy ships, they could even outrun ships that were SUPPOSED to be able to outrun them

Basically the interwar UK battlecruiser doctrine

Yeah it was a fine ship, but there is a mystique around those ships that aint really justified

They DID pull experimental designs that proved to work, like the diagonal braces in the hull

e.g a really well managed RN frigate like the Shannon managed to beat the USS Chesapeake

Otherwise, they didn't, and weren't designed to, compete with ships of the line

hence their speed

and razees were shown to handle them well

They only did so well because the cream of the RN were in Europe dealing with Napoleon

presumably being manned by the sailors the UK had to impress into service due to lack of domestic manpower

which is the biggest reason the US even got involved to begin with

I mean they probably wanted a land grab in Canada whilst Britain was distracted

and used impressment as an excuse

That was a minor factor among those who wanted to expand, which was still a comparatively fringe idea by that point given that the Louisiana Purchase was only made a decade prior

One attempt was already made at ~~Canada~~ British North America in the Revolutionary War, in which the southern Quebecois were sympathetic, but the northern Quebecois were less interested, to say the least

You can tell how significant impressment was as a factor by the fact that a Quasi-War was also started with France, which by this point had no further territory within American reach

That was the one led by Monrgomery if i remember right

TL;DR, don't fuck with American ships

Fucking with American ships in various capacities was what led the US to get involved in the War of 1812, the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II

Yeah dont fuck with American ships or you may have to come and burn the capital city down

And then retreat in the face of an overwhelming American force of literally nobody

because **ANNUIT COEPTIS**

I mean Admiral Cockburn was an absolute lad

And the tornado-spawning hurricane that tossed British artillery and damaged ships while putting out their fires was an even bigger lad

Went to the office of a newspaper that chatted shit about him to take all their letters so they couldnt print his name

Then spend the night working his way through the neighbourhood's women

As god himself destroys the rest of Washington DC

Nah, that storm saved the city

extinguished the fires, expelled the invaders, and allowed for its reconstruction from the burned stone up

'expelled the invaders'

It forced a retreat

They left because they had already drank through the presidents wine supply

It had tossed artillery, damaged British ships, killed some British soldiers, and forced a retreat

It is god's way of nerfing the British

too OP otherwise

It's **ANNUIT COEPTIS**

Nodding in appreciation of the British efforts

yes

The US actually de facto gained some territory out of the War of 1812