USS *Constitution* was launched on 21st of October 1797, from the Edmund Hartt’s shipyard in Boston Massachusetts. She was the first of six, 44 gun frigates ordered for the new United States Navy. She was built at a time when most frigates in European navies had ~38 guns. In order to support her extra-long gun deck *Constitution* was built with diagonal iron stringers that ran the length of her hull as well as unusually thick hull planking (21 inches of southern live white oak and pine)
In the War of 1812 *Constitution* would receive her nickname *Old Iron Sides* in a fight with the British frigate HMS *Guerriere*, who had started life as a French frigate before being captured by the Royal Navy. On the afternoon of August 19th, 1812, about 400 miles southwest of Halifax Nova Scotia, *Guerriere* spotted the sails of *Constitution* and prepared for action. The two ships exchanged broadsides for an hour. After being boarded by the *Constitution* the crew of *Guerriere* surrendered and struck their colors. Despite wanting to take the ship as a prize *Guerriere* was in no shape to sail and was instead burned.
During the fighting American sailors witnessed the British cannon balls bouncing off their hull prompting one man to shout, “Haza her sides are made of iron!”. This nickname would be immortalized in the poem “Old Iron Sides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1830, saving USS *Constitution* from being scrapped, and in the name of the civil war era broadside ironclad USS *New Ironsides*.
USS *Constitution* now sits in Charlestown Navy Yard as the oldest still commissioned warship in the world and is open for tours to the public.
1 Comment
USS *Constitution* was launched on 21st of October 1797, from the Edmund Hartt’s shipyard in Boston Massachusetts. She was the first of six, 44 gun frigates ordered for the new United States Navy. She was built at a time when most frigates in European navies had ~38 guns. In order to support her extra-long gun deck *Constitution* was built with diagonal iron stringers that ran the length of her hull as well as unusually thick hull planking (21 inches of southern live white oak and pine)
In the War of 1812 *Constitution* would receive her nickname *Old Iron Sides* in a fight with the British frigate HMS *Guerriere*, who had started life as a French frigate before being captured by the Royal Navy. On the afternoon of August 19th, 1812, about 400 miles southwest of Halifax Nova Scotia, *Guerriere* spotted the sails of *Constitution* and prepared for action. The two ships exchanged broadsides for an hour. After being boarded by the *Constitution* the crew of *Guerriere* surrendered and struck their colors. Despite wanting to take the ship as a prize *Guerriere* was in no shape to sail and was instead burned.
During the fighting American sailors witnessed the British cannon balls bouncing off their hull prompting one man to shout, “Haza her sides are made of iron!”. This nickname would be immortalized in the poem “Old Iron Sides” by Oliver Wendell Holmes in 1830, saving USS *Constitution* from being scrapped, and in the name of the civil war era broadside ironclad USS *New Ironsides*.
USS *Constitution* now sits in Charlestown Navy Yard as the oldest still commissioned warship in the world and is open for tours to the public.