sailed to Washington, D.C. where she was laid up. As the Quasi-War with France drew to a close, President Adams could report to Congress: The present Navy of the United States, called suddenly into existence by a great national emergency, has raised us in our own esteem; and by the protection afforded to our commerce has effected to the extent of our expectations the objects for which it was created. First Barbary War Peace with France freed the Navy for operations against Barbary corsairs who had been preying on American shipping in the Mediterranean. A small squadron under Commodore Richard Dale, sent out in 1801 for operations against Tripoli, was followed in 1802 by a much stronger force under Commodore Richard Valentine Morris. On 22 October John Adams, under the command of Captain John Rodgers, sailed from Hampton Roads to join Commodore Morris. After escorting vessels from Gibraltar to Málaga and Menorca, she finally caught up with Commodore Morris at Malta on 5 January 1803. She then operated with the squadron until 3 May when she received orders to cruise independently off Tripoli. Upon arriving off Tripoli, John Adams, still under the command of Rodgers, boldly attacked the forts and the gunboats anchored under their protection. Several days later she captured 28-gun Tripolitan cruiser Meshuda. After and joined her, John Adams engaged a flotilla of enemy gunboats off Tripoli on 22 May sending them scurrying back into the harbor to safety. Five days later—with the added support of , a sister frigate also named for President John Adams—the squadron again bested a group of pirate gunboats. One of the most important victories of the war came on 21 June when John Adams and Enterprise captured a 22-gun vessel belonging to Tripoli, thus weakening that state sufficiently to allow the squadron to turn its attention to Tunis, Algiers, and Morocco, which were threatening U.S. commerce in the Western Mediterranean. Throughout the summer and early fall John Adams operated in that quarter before returning home with New York. Meanwhile, Commodore Edward Preble, who had led a powerful fleet to the Mediterranean, vigorously pressed the fight. In August and September 1804 he made a series of major attacks on Tripoli. As the second of these blows was being delivered 7 August, John Adams, now under Captain Isaac Chauncey, arrived on the scene deeply laden with stores. Her boats participated in a reconnaissance patrol