that his torpedo could sink a large naval vessel. Rodgers and Lt. Lawrence quickly demonstrated that Fulton's torpedo was unable to penetrate the ship's defense. Fulton in a final report to Hamilton reluctantly conceded he could not penetrate Rodgers' defense. While Rodgers was vindicated, the two men held no rancor toward each other. During the War of 1812 Fulton wrote Rodgers on September 14, 1814, to offer his service in defense of the port of Baltimore; before the letter arrived, the battle was over. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, the American navy was not prepared to deal with Britain's large and formidable navy; it consisted of hundreds of ships and seasoned commanders and crews, many of whom were already battle hardened from the Napoleonic wars with France. In 1811, Rodgers was commodore of USS President off Annapolis when he heard that an American seaman had been "impressed" by a British frigate off Sandy Hook, New Jersey. Commodore Rodgers was ordered to sea to "protect American commerce", but he may have had verbal instructions to retaliate for the impressment of British subjects from American vessels, which was causing much ill-feeling. Early in 1811, Secretary of the Navy Hamilton had ordered USS President and USS Argus on patrol duty along the Atlantic coast from the Carolinas to New York. Captain John Rodgers was in command of the frigate President off the coast of North Carolina. On May 16, 1811, he sighted and followed the British sloop , commanded by Arthur Bingham, thinking it to be HMS Guerriere. Very different versions of events were given on either side. A gun was fired, with each side accusing the other of the first shot. Rodgers continued to engage the much smaller vessel and the President, bearing 44 guns, cut to pieces Little Belt, with only 20 guns. Little Belt lost 13 men killed, including a midshipman and a lieutenant, and 19 wounded, while President incurred only one wounded. The incident came to be known as the Little Belt Affair. It was one among many mishaps between the United States and Britain that led to the War of 1812. War of 1812 When the United States declared war against Britain on June 18, 1812, many American ships lacked crews and were in need of repairs, while others were still away at sea. The only ships available for service at this time were berthed