17. A Literal False Flag
The mission to recapture the USS Philadelphia was assigned to Lieutenant Stephen Decatur. Earlier, the US Navy had captured a Tripolitanian ketch and renamed her the Intrepid. It was restored to its original condition to look like a local ship. The Intrepid was then used in a deception operation to recover the captured American frigate. On the night of February 16th, 1804, Decatur and a volunteer crew sailed the Intrepid, disguised as a Maltese ship flying a British flag, into Tripoli’s harbor.
Decatur and his crew feigned distress, claiming to have lost all anchors in a storm. Their pilot asked and was granted permission to tie up next to the Philadelphia. Once tied up to the captured frigate, Decatur and his men overwhelmed her guards, using only cold steel without firing a shot so as not to alert the authorities. Upon confirming that the ship was repairable and seaworthy, but unable to sail her away themselves, Decatur and his men destroyed the Philadelphia by putting her to the torch, then made their escape.