Book Review: 'Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy'

Cover of the paperback edition of Six Frigates.  (C) 2008 W.W. Norton & Company

On October 17, 2006, W.W. Norton & Company published Ian W. Toll's Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy. In its 500+ pages, Toll (a former political speechwriter and financial analyst) tells the incredible story of the founding of the United States Navy during the Presidential tenures of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Set in the tumultuous early years of the Republic, Six Frigates follows the events and personalities that led to the appropriation, construction, and eventual deployment of the Navy's first post-Revolutionary War frigates: USS United States, USS Constellation, USS Constitution, USS Chesapeake, USS Congress, and USS President. 

Before the ink was dry on the U.S. Constitution, the establishment of a permanent military became the most divisive issue facing the new government. The founders―particularly Jefferson, Madison, and Adams―debated fiercely. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect from pirates or drain the treasury and provoke hostility? Britain alone had hundreds of powerful warships.


From the decision to build six heavy frigates, through the cliff-hanger campaign against Tripoli, to the war that shook the world in 1812, Ian W. Toll tells this grand tale with the political insight of Founding Brothers and the narrative flair of Patrick O'Brian. - back cover blurb, Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy

Toll begins Six Frigates with a brief but vivid account of the Battle of Trafalgar (October 2, 1805), the decisive naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. At Trafalgar, a 22-ship Royal Navy squadron commanded by Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated a larger Franco-Spanish fleet (33 ships in all) commanded by French Admiral Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve. During the battle, Nelson's fleet destroyed 22 French and Spanish ships while losing none. But as Toll reminds the reader, even though the victory at Trafalgar confirmed Britain's continued domination of the seas. it didn't come cheap. The Royal Navy suffered a total of 1,666 casualties; 458 of those were dead, including Lord Nelson himself.

In a nifty bit of storytelling, puts the story of the U.S. Navy's birth in its proper context. In its infancy, America's modest naval squadron was created and sent into overseas service at a time when it was vastly overshadowed by the mother country's vast arrays of battleships, frigates, and other ships of the line. And yet, from the mid-1790s to 1815, the small flotilla from the upstart former colonies faced off successfully against various foreign foes at sea and on North Africa's "Barbary Coast," including a hostile post-Revolutionary France, the Barbary States, and, in the War of 1812, Great Britain herself.

Six Frigates then goes to chronicle - in great detail - the political, financial, military, and personal struggles that led to the procuring and construction of the titular six frigates. Presidents George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson are among the more familiar historical figures mentioned in Toll's narrative, as are naval designer Joshua Humphreys, Secretary of War Henry Knox, naval constructor Josiah Fox, and naval commanders such as Stephen Decatur, Thomas Truxtun, and John Barry (captain of USS United States, the U.S. Navy's first purpose-built warship).

The Navy's first engagements - the Quasi-War with France, the wars with the Arab pirates in the Mediterranean, and America's "second War of Independence" are also covered extensively, as is the fate of each of the six original frigates, of which one - USS Constitution - is still in existence as the oldest commissioned ship in the Navy.

Toll covers no new ground here - the Navy's origins and its role in the Barbary Pirate campaigns and the War of 1812 have been covered by other authors, including a young Theodore Roosevelt. Nevertheless, his considerable storytelling skills and his eye for fine details are tools that he uses wisely in his bid to make the past come alive.

That's not to say that the book is without flaws. Though it has several illustration inserts, Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy lacks maps, battle charts, or even a line drawing of a typical 1790s U.S. frigate to give the reader - who may not be well-versed in naval history of the period - a way to visualize the movements of opposing warships or, even more important, educate 21st Century readers about the various sections of ships of the era.

That having been said, Toll proves that he is a capable researcher, writer, and narrator. He crafts a story that is well-told, riveting, and entertaining, traits that show up in his current Pacific War trilogy that began with 2010's Pacific Crucible, continued in 2015 with The Conquering Tide, and is scheduled to conclude in 2019's Twilight of the Gods.