Most of these were involved in blockading the French navy and protecting British trade against French privateers, but the Royal Navy still had 85 vessels in American waters, counting all North American and Caribbean waters. However, the Royal Navy's American squadron based in Halifax, Nova Scotia numbered one small ship of the line, seven frigates, nine smaller sloops and brigs, and five schooners. By contrast, the United States Navy was composed of 8 frigates, 14 smaller sloops and brigs, and no ships of the line. The U.S. had embarked on a major shipbuilding program before the war at Sackets Harbor, New York and continued to produce new ships. Three of the existing American frigates were exceptionally large and powerful for their class, larger than any British frigate in America. The standard British frigate of the time was rated as a 38 gun ship, usually carrying up to 50 guns, with its main battery consisting of 18-pounder. USS "Constitution", "President", and "United States", in comparison, were rated as 44-gun ships, carrying 56–60 guns with a main battery of 24-pounders. The British strategy was to protect their own merchant shipping between Halifax and the West Indies, and to enforce a blockade of major American ports to restrict American trade. Because of their numerical inferiority, the American strategy was to cause disruption through hit-and-run tactics, such as the capturing prizes and engaging Royal Navy vessels only under favourable circumstances. Days after the formal declaration of war, however, America put out two small squadrons, including the frigate "President" and the sloop under Commodore John Rodgers, and the frigates "United States" and , with the brig under Captain Stephen Decatur. These were initially concentrated as one unit under Rodgers, who intended 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 were returning to the United States with the outbreak of war, and the Royal Navy could not watch all the ports on the American seaboard if they were concentrated together. Rodgers' strategy worked, in that the Royal Navy concentrated most of its frigates off New York Harbor under Captain Philip Broke, allowing many American ships to reach home. But Rodgers' own cruise captured only five small merchant ships, and the Americans never subsequently concentrated more than two or three ships together as a unit. Both Americans and British felt their navies' honour had been challenged prior to the war.