U.S.-Greek Naval Relations Begin: Antipiracy Operations in the Aegean Sea

This paper discusses the U.S. Navy's aggressive campaign in the Aegean Sea against Greek pirates who interfered with American shipping during the third decade of the nineteenth century. This campaign was not a particularly important one in the overall history of the U.S. navy, nor did it strongly influence subsequent Greek-American naval relations. Those relations - outlined in the paper - have been largely amicable and even quite close at times, especially following the end of the Cold War. Nevertheless, the Independence for Ottoman Turkey, and of the republic in North America that had itself won its independence less than a century earlier.