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Only one U. S Navy vessel was captured by — and later recaptured from — French forces, the USS Retaliation.

She was the captured privateer La Croyable, recently purchased by the U. S. Navy.

Retaliation departed Norfolk on October 28, 1798, with Montezuma and Norfolk, and cruised in the West Indies protecting American commerce.

On November 20, 1798, the French frigates L ’ Insurgente and Volontaire overtook Retaliation while her consorts were away and forced commanding officer Lieutenant William Bainbridge to surrender the out-gunned schooner.

Montezuma and Norfolk escaped after Bainbridge convinced the senior French commander that those American warships were too powerful for his frigates and persuaded him to abandon the chase.

Renamed Magicienne by the French, the schooner again came into American hands on June 28, when a broadside from USS Merrimack forced her to haul down her colors.