![]() In December 1807 there were 69 of them in United States service, and the Congress ordered 188 more built, as an auxiliary to the embargo declared a few days later, making 257 in all. ![]() Jefferson's theory was that America needed only coast defense vessels, and he thought gunboats answered the purpose. President Jefferson held navies in abhorrence, as at the best barely tolerable evils. ![]() ![]() They were first used on the Delaware River, in 1775-6, and drove the British frigate Reliance out of the roads. In the United States the gunboat figured to a very considerable extent in coast and lake warfare in America's first two wars. This is always the case with those who are advocates for navies and large ships." But the case often is, that men are led away by the GREATNESS of an idea, and not by the JUSTNESS of it. The right principle for the United States to go upon as a water defence for the coast, is that of combining the greatest practical power with the least possible bulk, that the whole quantity of power may be better distributed through the several parts of such an extensive coast. Thomas Paine, writing "Of The Comparative Powers And Expense Of Ships Of War, Gun-boats, And Fortifications" noted that "The United States have a long line of coast of more than two thousand miles, every part of which requires defence, because every part is approachable by water. ![]() From its small dimensions, it is capable of running close inshore or up rivers, and from the same cause it had little chance of being hit by a larger vessel at the long range which the carrying power of its guns enables it to maintain. A Gunboat is a small boat or vessel armed with one or more guns of heavy caliber. ![]()
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