 The opposing commanders on the Great Lakes, Sir James Yeo and Isaac Chauncey sought to build larger vessels to overpower the other while preventing an attack on their lines of communication.The ships that were constructed at Kingston, Upper Canada were similar in design to those being built for war on the oceans.In an effort to bolster the British squadron on the Great Lakes in 1813 following the loss at the Battle of Lake Erie, the British government created a plan where four pre-fabricated warships would be constructed in shipyards in Great Britain, dismantled and transported to Lower Canada where the vessels would be then transported up the Saint Lawrence River to Kingston for re-assembly.