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The Constitution -- called "Old
Ironsides" because bullets could not penetrate her tough oak
sides, was one of the first of the original six frigates that made
up the U.S. Navy. A 44-gun frigate built at the Edmond Hartt
Shipyard, Boston, MA, in 1797, with a displacement of 2000 tons.
The ship carried a crew of more than 450. The ship served in the
undeclared naval war with France (1798-1800). She was the flagship
in the , Mediterranean squadron, in the Tripolitan War (1801-05).
In the War of 1812 the Constitution won battles with the British
frigates Guerriere and Java; the former battle took place about
1,200 km (750 mi) east of Boston on Aug. 19, 1812, and the latter
off the coast of Brazil on Dec. 29, 1812. The Constitution made
its last combat tour in 1814-15. The ship was scheduled to be
scrapped in 1830, but Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem "Old Ironsides"
inspired a public movement to save it. Restored in 1925, the
Constitution is now The oldest commissioned vessel in the US Navy.
Presently serving as a museum ship at the Charleston Navy Yard,
Boston, MA. moored in Boston. |