美国海军最初的六艘巡防舰
美国海军最初的六艘巡防舰是指美国第一批大型木制三桅巡防舰，总计共有6艘：宪法号、切萨皮克号、星座号、总统号、美国号、国会号。这些舰艇是美国海军成立时期便建造完成的第一批船舰。1794年3月27日，美国国会通过《1794年海军法案》，其目的在于授权美国海军建立首批的6艘巡防舰，组建第一支巡防舰舰队。其后美国国会根据法案，决定委托建造6艘巡防舰，并为此项计划拨款。
这6艘巡防舰是美国甫刚宣布独立后所建造的第一批舰队，也是美国第一批真正的军舰。在首位美国海军部长班杰明·斯托德特的建议下，这6艘巡防舰的所有舰艇设计，均是交由设计师约书亚·韩福瑞的提议建造的。约书亚建议这批巡防舰应被设计为重型巡防舰，其舰艇比当时的传统巡防舰更长、更快，但船舰也更为坚固。6艘巡防舰的总造价为688,888.82美元（相当于2024年的19,833,259.52美元）。
因此，这批巡防舰的火力和防御能力足以和当时法国海军或英国皇家海军的同等级巡防舰交战，但速度又足以躲避同时代更大型的风帆战舰。由船舰采用对角支撑的创新设计，美国造船厂能够建造比以前设想更长、更快的巡防舰。不过这6艘巡防舰也大大超出预算，且交货时间比预期要得晚。在海上战争期间，美国海军这6艘巡防舰曾经与英国皇家海军交战。这6艘巡防舰在绝大多数情况下完成任务，并成为当时美国海军的核心。目前建于1797年的宪法号保存至今，是世界上仍在航行的最古老船只。
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