During the War of 1812, Sackets Harbor was the most active naval station in the United States as the U.S. and British navies competed in shipbuilding for control of Lake Ontario, though they never fought a major battle there. Under the leadership of shipbuilding genius Henry Eckford, craftsmen worked at a feverish pace as he designed ships, organized labor, procured materials, and supervised construction, launching a major warship in about 35 days. Eckford completed eight warships at Sackets Harbor, more than at any other location during the war, and had them ready for a decisive battle that never came. Among them was the frigate Superior, launched on May 1, 1814, 195 feet long, pierced for 64 guns, built in 80 days, and crewed by 500 officers, seamen, and marines, the largest U.S. Navy warship in service during the war. The wartime building schedule included Oneida, Madison, Asp, Lady of the Lake, Sylph, General Pike, Julia, Growler, Jefferson, Jones, Superior, Mohawk, New Orleans, Chippewa, and Plattsburg. When the war ended, the great shipbuilding effort stopped, the incomplete 106-gun ship-of-the-line New Orleans remained on the stocks until 1883, most of the other warships were roofed over in an attempt to preserve them, and by 1825 only New Orleans was still intact while the others had decayed and sank; some were later demolished, some refitted for commercial use, and the remains of Jefferson are still buried in the mud beneath the marina.