Made of timbers felled from Maine to Georgia and armed with cannons cast in Rhode Island and
copper fastenings provided by Paul Revere, the
U.S.S. Constitution is truly a national ship. Launched in
Boston on October 21, 1797, she first put to sea in 1798. Having remained a part of the U.S. Navy
since that day,
Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship in the world which is still
afloat.
Her first mission, during the late 1790's, was to guard American commerce in the Caribbean
against French depredations. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson sent her to the Mediterranean
to protect American ships and seamen from attack by the Barbary pirates. With Captain Edward
Preble in command,
Constitution and other ships of the squadron bombarded Tripoli.
Thanks to such determination, a treaty of peace was signed in June 1805 between the United
States and Tripoli aboard
Constitution.
After returning to the United States,
Constitution was named flagship of the North Atlantic
Squadron. In 1810, her new captain, Isaac Hull, took her to sea. Two years later she met and
defeated
HMS Guerriere, the first in a grand succession of victories in the War of 1812. It
was during this ferocious battle that the seamen, astonished at how the British cannonballs were
bouncing off the
Constitution's hull, cried out - "Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!" Hence, her
nickname,"Old Ironsides."
When her war service ended in 1815, the battle -scarred
Constitution was laid up for almost
six years for extensive repairs, after which she went on two cruises to the Mediterranean. In
1830 she was reported unseaworthy and condemned to be broken up. A poem by Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Sr., entitled "Old Ironsides," aroused such popular feeling that money was appropriated
for rebuilding her in 1833. In 1844, under the command of Captain "Mad Jack" Percival, she
began an epic around-the-world cruise and became the first American warship to circumnavigate
the globe.
During the Civil War she was brought to Newport, Rhode Island to serve as a training ship for
Naval Academy midshipmen.
In 1882, she was removed from active service and shortly thereafter retired to Portsmouth, New
Hampshire Naval Shipyard. In recognition of her centennial,
Constitution was brought back
to Boston in 1897. Refitted for display and opened to the public in 1905, she became a national
monument.
Constitution was recommissioned in 1931 for a coast-to-coast tour of ninety American cities
lasting until 1934 when she was returned to her place of honor in the Boston Harbor at
Charlestown Navy Yard. She rests here today as an enduring symbol of the document for which
she is named and of America's determination to defend the republic she so long protected.
U.S.S. Constitution Links:
The Offical Web Site of the
U.S.S. Constitution.
US Navy Web Site of the
U.S.S. Constitution.
Google Virtual Tour of the
U.S.S. Constitution. 
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