High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Action of 9 November 1822 was a naval battle fought between the American schooner USS Alligator and a squadron of three piratical schooners off the coast of Cuba during the United States Navy's West Indies Anti-Piracy Operation. Fifteen leagues from Matanzas, Cuba, a large band of pirates captured several vessels and held them for ransom. Upon hearing of the pirate attacks, the Alligator under Lieutenant William Howard Allen rushed to the scene to rescue the vessels and seize the pirates.