alternatehistory.com

A little background first. In 1812, James Dacres, the captain of the British
frigate HMS Guerriere, challenged the President, or "any American ship of
similar size, to a tete-a-tete." Translation: A one-on-one duel. The Royal Navy was undefeated in these duels. A week after the challenge, the USS
Constitution had just left the Washington Navy Yard, after fitting out, because her captain, Isaac Hull, had feared that she'd be trapped by a British blockade. She'd escaped by kedging, using men in rowboats with
kedges, small anchors, to get away from three British ships, one of them the
HMS Guerriere. A week after the Constitution's escape from the Guerriere, on August 19, 1812, the Constitution met the Guerriere again about seven
hundred miles off the New Jersey coast, the Constitution won and received the nickname "Old Ironsides," in that battle. As for the HMS Guerriere? She was pounded into a floating hulk. Now for the question: What if USS Constitution became HMS Constitution?
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