A sloop closely resembling the first USS Maryland

Just two decades after the Revolutionary War, America was mired in an undeclared
conflict with France. The dispute led to the construction of the sloop USS Mary-
land (which closely resembled the USS Erie depicted here).
Built in Baltimore and commissioned in 1799, the first Maryland was de-
signed to protect American shipping. This conflict also prompted Congress to
create a Secretary of the Navy and generated the construction in Baltimore of
the great frigate Constellation - the first commissioned ship of the United States
Navy and a major tourist attraction today in its home port of Baltimore.

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