MONTROSE Big Easy – The Type 23 Frigate MONTROSE, homeward bound after a South Atlantic Patrol, spent six days in New Orleans as to mark the American celebrations of the bicentennial commemorations of the War of 1812.   The MONTROSE joined ships from the USA, France and Canada berthed on the Mississippi for New Orleans Navy Week 2012.    The Americans were commemorating the last time our two countries fought each other, in the War of 1812 – a war partially caused by the Royal Navy, and one which saw British warships engaged from the Great Lakes to the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf of Mexico.    The war actually dragged on until 1815 and cost the lives of upwards of 20,000 from battle and disease (15,000 on the American side, over 5,000 British and Empire troops and sailors).    It was sparked by an ongoing trade embargo and blockade aimed at Napoleonic France with the Royal Navy’s pressganging of merchant sailors and ships into its service.   The war inspired the lyrics American national anthem, saw British troops burn Washington (including the White House and the newly completed Capitol) in 1814, before the British were decisively beaten at New Orleans in January 1815.