USS Chesapeake was the American frigate captured by the British after fighting HMS Shannon on June 1, 1813. The engagement took place off Boston during the War of 1812 and ended in a rapid British victory after a fierce close-quarters action.
Chesapeake was commanded by Captain James Lawrence, while Shannon was led by Captain Philip Broke. Lawrence had recently gained fame for capturing HMS Peacock and went to sea from Boston expecting a major naval contest. The two frigates exchanged heavy gunfire, but Shannon’s crew disabled Chesapeake’s fighting capacity and then boarded her. Lawrence was mortally wounded during the battle and died four days later.
The British took Chesapeake and her surviving crew to Halifax, Nova Scotia. The captured frigate was repaired, commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Chesapeake, and later sold and broken up in England. This defeat is sometimes confused with the famous American victories involving USS Constitution, but Constitution never fought Shannon. Chesapeake’s capture was one of the clearest British single-ship victories of the war.