How would the outcome of US hist have been affected for the worse had the US Navy been badly beaten by the Barbary Pirates in the early 1800s ? Could such an event have conceivably occurred, despite the presence of outstanding officers and seamen such as Stephen Decatur, John Rogers and Reuben James ? Or alternatively, WI instead of disbanding the Continental Navy in 1784, Congress had decided to retain some maritime striking power in the form of a small naval presence ? How would American foreign policy issues have been affected had the US before 1798 some naval capability instead of none with which to take on the likes of the Barbary states ?