18. A Daring Sneak Attack in the Heart of an Enemy’s Harbor
The mission to recapture or destroy the USS Philadelphia was given to an enterprising US Navy Lieutenant named Stephen Decatur. Earlier in the war, American seamen had captured a Tripolitanian ketch and renamed her the Intrepid. The captured ketch was restored to its original condition to look like a local ship. On the night of February 16th, 1804, with the captured vessel disguised as a Maltese ship flying a British flag, Decatur and a contingent of volunteers sailed into Tripoli’s harbor.

The American sailors feigned distress, claiming to have lost all anchors in a storm. The pilot asked and was granted permission to tie up next to the Philadelphia. Once tied up to the captured frigate, Decatur and his men overwhelmed her guards, using only cold steel without firing a shot so as not to alert the authorities. Upon confirming that the ship was repairable and seaworthy, but unable to sail her away themselves, Decatur and his men destroyed the Philadelphia by setting her on fire, then made their escape.