Aegean Sea anti-piracy operations
Part of theGreek War of Independence
Pirates grecs (1838), byAlexandre-Gabriel Decamps
Date May 1825 – December 1828 Location Aegean Sea Result Operational success
Belligerents
United States	Pirates
Commanders and leaders
John Rodgers Lawrence Kearny Louis M. Goldsborough William L. Hudson	Unknown
Strength
1ship-of-the-line 1frigate 3sloops-of-war 2schooners	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

Aegean Sea anti-piracy operations began in 1825 when the United States government dispatched a squadron of ships to suppress Greek piracy in theAegean Sea. TheGreek civil wars of 1824–1825 and the decline of theHellenic Navy made the Aegean quickly become a haven for pirates who sometimes doubled asprivateers.

American merchant vessels were attacked and so theMediterranean Squadron began escort and patrol duties. The operations terminated in 1828, as piracy ceased.^[1][2]

TheHellenic Navy declined after 1824 and turned increasingly toprivateering. With the breakdown of law and order in the Aegean, piracy became widespread. On May 29, 1825, an American vessel from Boston was seized by privateers.^[3] That year, theSecretary of the Navy dispatched CommodoreJohn Rodgers to protect American commerce.

From 1825 to 1828, seven American warships were assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron, including the flagshipUSS North Carolina, the frigateUSS Constitution, the sloopsUSS Fairfield,USS Lexington andUSS Ontario, and the schoonersUSS Porpoise andUSS Warren. The sloops and the schooners were the main vessels deployed against the pirates because the largermen-of-war were too large to be effective.^[4] Many of the Greek pirates used small, three-masted vessels calledmistikos and were usually armed with one bow gun.^[5]

CommodoreJohn Rodgers's first squadron in the Aegean occupied its time by convoying merchant ships and did not fight any engagements. In 1826, the squadron was withdrawn, but another was sent in 1827 after a new escalation in piracy. Again the naval force was under Rodgers' command.USS Warren would be the first to fight the brigands in a battle; she was newly constructed and sailed fromBoston in February 1827. In September, theWarren ceased escort duty, and under the command of LieutenantLawrence Kearny, she captured a sixteen-gun brig on October 4 while she was patrolling aroundCape Matapan and the port ofCarabusa. One boat and 15 pirates were also taken.^[6]

Sailing in convoy on October 16, LieutenantLouis M. Goldsborough of theUSS Porpoise liberated the British brigComet after watching it get captured by 250 pirates in five vessels. In the ensuingbattle of Doro Passage, around 90 brigands were killed or wounded, but the Americans suffered no casualties. Three brigs left the convoy at that point and two of them were later attacked. The first brig was captured offChios and the second was abandoned by her crew before it was captured.

On October 23, one American sailor from thePorpoise was wounded in a skirmish nearAndros. USSWarren chased a ten-gun pirate brig on October 25, and it grounded offArgentiere before sinking; the pirates escaped to shore.Warren recovered the American shipCherub and the Austrian vesselSilence offSyros on October 28, and two days later the Americans captured a pirate tratta propelled by forty oars and landed sailors and marines onMykonos to recover stolen property from theCherub,Silence and theRob Roy. One pirate boat was burned during the landing and the town shelled.^[6]

On November 7, a boat expedition from theWarren under the command of LieutenantWilliam L. Hudson destroyed one pirate boat and captured another off Andros. TheWarren also landed men on Argentiere andMilos in December, and convoyed eight American merchant vessels from Milos toSmyrna. In just over two months, theWarren captured or destroyed seven pirate vessels, rescued three merchant ships, recovered stolen property, escorted two convoys, and patrolled hundreds of miles in the Mediterranean. By the end of 1827, the United Kingdom, Russia, and France had deployed their own fleets to the Aegean for suppression of piracy and to support Greek independence from theOttoman Empire.^[7]

In January 1828, a combined fleet of British and French warships attackedCarabusa, which was a major center of piracy. Following its destruction, reports of pirate attacks began to cease, and by the end of 1828, Secretary of the NavySamuel L. Southard declared that because of the convoy system enforced by the United States Navy and the arrival of powerful fleets in the Aegean, the threat of piracy was eliminated.^[2]

• West Indies anti-piracy operations of the United States

• 1825 in Greece
• 1826 in Greece
• 1827 in Greece
• 1828 in Greece
• 1825 in the United States
• 1826 in the United States
• 1827 in the United States
• 1828 in the United States
• Conflicts in 1825
• Conflicts in 1826
• Conflicts in 1827
• Conflicts in 1828
• Anti-piracy battles involving the United States
• Greece–United States relations
• Military operations of the Greek War of Independence
• History of the Aegean Sea
• Piracy in the Mediterranean
• United States Navy in the 19th century

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from September 2019