While the uniform of US Navy sailors of the War of 1812 was not as closely prescriptive as modern naval uniforms, the Navy Department provided ready-made “slop clothing” produced by contractors to an established pattern, while a ship’s own “Internal Regulations” specified exactly what clothing each man was to own and when to wear it. Approximately 15% of all US Navy sailors during the War of 1812 were black. The average age of a sailor on USS Constitution during the War of 1812 was 28, with an average height of 5'6. While Royal Navy sailors were subject to impressment and could spend decades at sea, US Navy sailors of the early 19th century joined of their own free will, often after several years in the merchant service. In contrast to its modest size, the theatre that the US Navy fought in was vast in scope and variety, ranging from raiding on British whalers in the South Pacific, to ship-to-ship frigate actions in the Atlantic and on Lake Erie, brig, sloop, and schooner actions on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, smaller ship and gunboat actions throughout the Chesapeake and its tributaries, and the use of naval artillery pieces manned by sailors in land battles in the Chesapeake and Louisiana. When war was declared against Britain in June of 1812, the US Navy was quite small in size compared to the Royal Navy, comprised of six frigates authorized by the Naval Act of 1794 and other ships including gunboats, with around 5,000 sailors and 1,000 marines.
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