The British strategy is to protect their…
1812 CE
Because of their numerical inferiority, the American strategy is to cause disruption through hit-and-run tactics, such as the capture of prizes and engaging Royal Navy vessels only under favorable circumstances.
Days after the formal declaration of war, however, it puts out two small squadrons, including the frigate President and the sloop Hornet under Commodore John Rodgers, and the frigates United States and Congress, with the brig Argus under Captain Stephen Decatur.
These are initially concentrated as one unit under Rodgers, who intends to force the Royal Navy to concentrate its own ships to prevent isolated units being captured by his powerful force.
Large numbers of American merchant ships are returning to the United States with the outbreak of war, and if the Royal Navy is concentrated, it cannot watch all the ports on the American seaboard.
Rodgers' strategy works, in that the Royal Navy concentrates most of its frigates off New York Harbor under Captain Philip Broke, allowing many American ships to reach home, but Rodgers' own cruise captures only five small merchant ships, and the Americans will never subsequently concentrate more than two or three ships together as a unit.