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USS Constitution – Present and Future

by johnk on 11. Jun, 2010 in Model Ship History

The mission of USS Constitution in the present day is to provide an understanding of the US Navy’s role in war and peace by actively participating in outreach programs through public events, education, public access, and historic demonstration. She maintains a crew of 60 active duty US Navy personnel officers and sailors, and is open year-round to the public for free tours. The role that USS Constitution plays in special duty makes her the oldest commissioned vessel that is still afloat in not only the United States, but in the world.

USS Constitution’s maintenance is provided for by the Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment in Boston, where she is repair and restored regularly to keep her as close to her original 1812 standards. Sitting at Pier 1 of what used to be Charlestown Navy Yard, USS Constitution is open all year for public visits. There is even a privately run USS Constitution Museum located in a restored shipyard building at Pier 2. USS Constitution still makes it out to sea about once a year for a “turnaround cruise” in which she is towed into Boston Harbor to perform gun drills and other demonstrations before she is returned to her dock in the opposite direction to maintain a proper weathering of her structure. The turnaround cruise is a public event that selects its viewers on a lottery draw. In 2003, modern technology was used to scan USS Constitution into a computer model for the fictional French ship Acheron by a special effects crew from Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. In order to do so, this special effects crew needed to spend several days with USS Constitution to create digital image scans of her.

in 2007, commanding officer Thomas C. Graves was let go for charges of abusing his subordinates, which was handled privately at a U.S. Navy hearing on October 26. That same month, USS Constitution began another period of repairs that are scheduled to go on until September 2010. The repairs will strip the entire spar deck, and restore the Douglas fir decking to its original white oak and yellow pine. Furthermore, her deck will be restored to her original curvature to allow water to drain properly. This maintenance allows USS Constitution to remain open to the public, but its turnaround cruise has been postponed until restoration is complete. Lieutenant Commander John Scivier of the Royal Navy, commanding officer of HMS Victory, discussed during his visit to USS Constitution the possibility of an exchange program between the two legendary ships.

On October 2009, USS Constitution celebrated the anniversary of her launch in 1797 by performing her first underway demonstration in over ten years, in which she shot port and starboard batteries to commemorate the 16 states present during her introduction, and one more shot to honor herself. USS Constitution has had more than 70 commanding officers during its duty in the U.S. Navy. The current commanding officer, Commander Timothy Cooper, is the 71st commanding officer of USS Constitution.

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USS Constitution in the 20th Century

by johnk on 09. Jun, 2010 in Model Ship History

At the turn of the 20th century, Congress approved a restoration of USS Constitution, but the funding was left up to private means. In an attempt to raise the funds needed to restore USS Constitution, the Massachusetts Society of the United Daughters of the War of 1812 started a fundraiser, but they unfortunately could not raise enough money on their own. Then in 1903, the Massachusetts Historical Society’s president, Charles Francis Adams, petitioned Congress to appropriate the funds to revitalize USS Constitution and place her back into active service.

Two years later, the Secretary of the Navy, Charles Joseph Bonaparte, urged that USS Constitution be brought out into sea and used as target practice, at the end of which she would forever sink into the pits of the ocean. This proposition brought seas of protest, and even prompted an Armenian-American business man named Moses. H. Gulesian to make an offer of $10,000 for USS Constitution. His offer was denied, but Gulesian then started a grassroots campaign that stemmed from Boston but spilled into other areas of the country. These protests prompted Congress to appropriate $100,000 for USS Constitution’s restoration in 1906. In 1907, she started service as a museum ship with public tours open to the public. On Decemeber 1, 1917 she was renamed Old Constitution, in order to free the name up for a new battle cruiser. However, Old Constitution was given a return to her name by July 24, 1925.

The Board of Inspection and Surveys’ report on USS Constitution in 1924 determined that she was in very poor condition. So poor, that her stern was near falling off, and water had to pumped out of her on a daily basis in order to keep her afloat. Every crevice of her deck and structural components were rotten, and she was nearly in total ruins. The estimated cost to repair the USS Constitution back to acceptable standards was around $400,000. Curtis D. Wilbur, Secretary of the Navy, proposed to Congress that the funds needed to fix her be raised privately yet again, and he became responsible for the committee charged with USS Constitutions restoration. The first program was sponsored by the national Elks Lodge, and set about encouraging school children to give pennies toward the restoration of Old Ironsides, and managed to raise $148,000. Despite this, the estimates for USS Constitution’s restoration continued to climb, exceeding $745,000 once the material cost was figured in. To keep up with the skyrocketing cost, Wilbur began selling paintings of USS Constitution at 50 cents per copy, and a silent film entitled Old Ironsides premiered in December 1926. Furthermore, making memorabilia out of her old planking in metal held bring in over $600,000. Congress then appropriated up to $300,000 to complete the restoration, which ended up costing $946,000.

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USS Constitution – Paris Exposition

by johnk on 07. Jun, 2010 in Model Ship History

The first quarter of 1873 saw the decision to yet again overhaul USS Constitution in order to participate in the centennial celebrations of the United States. However, the transitioning of the Philadelphia Navy Yard to League Island delayed the construction process of USS Constitution, and by the end of 1875 the Navy opened bids to outside contractors to reconstruct USS Constitution. This led to her being moved to Wood, Dialogue and Company in May 1876. The Andrew Jackson figurehead was once again removed and sent to the Naval Academy Museum where it remains to this day, and a small boiler and coal bin were installed on board. The construction overshot the centennial celebrations, and USS Constitution was then decided to be used as a training and school ship for Navy apprentices.

Oscar C. Badger became the next commander of USS Constitution and took her on the Paris Exposition of 1878. On this voyage USS Constitution carried artwork and industrial displays of American Manufacturers to France, with three latched railroad cars on her deck, and two cannons removed upon their March 4th departure. However, problems soon started when USS Constitution collided with Ville de Paris, sending USS Constitution off to the dry dock for repairs. USS Constitution remained in France for the duration of the year, not making way to the United States until January 16, 1879. Her bad luck continued when she ran aground the very next day near Bollard Head. This led to her being towed for minor repairs to the Portsmouth Naval Dockyard in Hampshire, England.

Furthermore, USS Constitution’s rudder became damaged during a series of deadly storms on February 13th that led to a complete loss of control over steering. The damaged rudder began bombarded the hull, but three crewmen managed to climb down the stern on ropes and boatwain’s chairs to secure the rudder. The next morning a makeshift steering system was put into place as well. Setting a course for the nearest port, Badger and his crew arrived in Lisbon on February 18th, but the slow dock service kept USS Constitution in limbo until April 11th. The crew did not return home until May 24 due to these setbacks. The three crewmen who courageously secured the rudder in the treacherous thunder storm, Henry Williams, Joseph Matthews, and James Horton, all received the Medal of Honor for their actions. Afterwards, USS Constitution returned to its role as a training and school ship for Navy apprentices, and on the 16th of November crewman, James Thayer, became another USS Constitution crewman to be awarded the Medal of Honor for saving a Navy apprentice from drowning.

USS Constitution’s previous overhaul in 1876 proved to be lackluster, as her condition over the next two years quickly deteriorated and was deemed unfit for service in 1881. She was moved to the Portsmouth Navy Yard in 1882 where she was used as a receiving ship, with a housing structure built over the spar deck. Her negligent maintenance during her days as a receiving ship continued to foster deterioration, managing to only keep her afloat. However, in 1896, Congressman John F. Fitzgerald garnered funds from Congress to restore USS Constitution just enough to return her to Boston. USS Constitution was then towed to the Charlestown Navy Yard on September 21, 1897, with a bleak future. Without the money to recondition her for service, USS Constitution ended her days on active duty, and did not sail again for 116 years.

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Titanic at the Bottom of the Ocean (Rediscovering the Titanic)

by johnk on 05. Jun, 2010 in Model Ship History

Attempting to find the wreckage of Titanic, and raise her from the ocean floor, had been an idea circulating around since shortly after the sinking. Until September 1, 1985, no attempts to do so were successful. The joint American-French expedition, led by Jean-Louis Michel (Ifremer) and Dr. Robert Ballard (WHOI), managed to find the wreck by way of a side-scan sonar from Knorr and Le Suroit. The French ship Le Suroit began searching a 150-square-mile target zone on June 1985 using a deep-search sonar. Le Suroit covered 80 percent of the zone, with the American ship Knorr covering the remaining 20 percent. Titanic was discovered at a depth of 2.5 miles, and more than 370 miles south-east of Mistaken Point, Newfoundland. This was about 13 miles from where fourth officer Joseph Boxhall determined where Titanic was originally located. Ballards crew used approximately 2.33 miles worth of rope in their attempt at surfacing Titanic. In 1986, the first manned dives to the wreck were conducted by Ballard in the submersible Alvin.

In 1982, Ballard requested funding from the U.S. Navy for his Titanic project, but was only given it on the condition that he first examine the sunken U.S. nuclear submarines USS Thresher and USS Scorpion in a covert manner. The discovery of Titanic’s wreckage led to arguments of whether or not she had split during her descent being put to rest at last, as it was visibly seen that she, indeed, did split apart. The stern lied about 600 meters away from the bow, and faced opposing directions. Her bow had hit the ocean floor under the fore peak, and went sixty feet deep into the ocean floor silt. The bow was still mostly intact, aside from parts of the hull that had collapsed. The collision apparently had forced water out of Titanic through its hull, blowing off one of the steel covers weighing about ten thousand tons. The stern section appeared to be in worse condition than the bow, as it had been torn apart during its descent most likely. This is probably due to air that was trapped inside of it being antagonized by conflicting pressures between the outside and inside, causing an implosion. Damage was likely increased due to the sudden collision with the ocean floor, causing the decks of the stern to collapse.

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USS Constitution – World Tour: Mediterranean and African Squadrons

by johnk on 04. Jun, 2010 in Model Ship History

USS Constitution once again began refitting in 1847 for duty with the Mediterranean Squadron. The controversial figurehead of Andrew Jackson that was subsequently severed by Boston protesters fifteen years previous was now replaced with another Jackson figurehead, this time with a more Napoleonic pose. The new captain of USS Constitution was Captain John Gwinn, who helmed her on her new voyage. With Daniel Smith McCauley and his family in tow, USS Constitution departed on December 9, 1848, and arrived in Tripoli on January 19, 1849. While in route to Egypt, McCauley’s wife gave birth to a son that the family then named Constitution Stewart McCauley. August 1st marked a momentous occasion, when King Ferdinand II and Pope Pius IX boarded USS Constitution at Gaeta, marking the first time a Pope had personally set foot onto American territory. However, a month later marked a darker time in history, when Captain John Gwinn died of chronic gastritis on September 1st at Palermo. He was given a burial near Lazeretto on the 9th. Gwinn’s successor to Captain of USS Constitution was Captain Thomas Conover, who took command on the 18th, and resumed the routine patrol of USS Constitution for the remainder of the tour. Routine until USS Constitution and the English brig Confidence collided on the first of December in 1850, causing the Confidence to lose its Captain. The rest of the English crew were taken aboard USS Constitution and taken back to America by January 1851, where the USS Constitution would remain in ordinary at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

USS Constitution was soon recommissioned on December 22, 1852, with John Rudd as its commander. USS Constitution made sail with Commodore Isaac Mayo for duty with the African Squadron, departing on March 2, 1853, and arriving June 18th. On a diplomatic visit to Liberia, Mayo coaxed the Brabo and Grebo tribes into a treaty by firing cannons into the village of the Barbo until they agreed to the treaty. This is seen as the last time that USS Constitution let her cannons off in an act of aggression, and USS Constitution’s last capture would follow shortly after. November 3rd, near Angola, USS Constitution captured the American ship H.N. Gambrill, which was a suspected slave trader ship, and took her as a prize. Mayo once again pressured another peace treaty between the Grahway and Half Cavally tribes on June 22, 1854. Afterwards, her tour took a turn for the uneventful, and she sailed home on March 31, 1855. However, she became rerouted to Cuba for a short time from May 16th to the 24th. Finally, USS Constitution arrived at Portsmouth Navy Yard, and was decommissioned on June 14th, putting an end to her days on the front lines of duty.

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USS Constitution – World Tour: Around the World

by johnk on 02. Jun, 2010 in Model Ship History

While under John Percival’s command, USS Constitution was given a re-haul, and recommissioned for a three-year circumnavigation of the world on March 24, 1844. USS Constitution started her tour on May 29th with the Ambassador of Brazil, Henry A. Wise, and his family aboard, transporting them to Rio de Janeiro. They arrived at their destination on August 2nd, with only two port visits made while in route. After packing needed supplies for the journey ahead, USS Constitution set sail again on September 8th, stopping to port at Madagascar, Mozambique, and Zanzibar. The crew arrived at Sumatra on January 1, 1845, but many of USS Constitution’s crew died from dysentery and fevers. To save the rest of his crew, Percival sailed to Singapore, and arrived on February 8th, where Commodore Henry Ducie Chads of HMS Cambrian offered what medical supplies and assistance he could to the sick crew. Chads had also been the Lieutenant of HMS Java thirty-three years ago when he surrendered to William Bainbridge.

USS Constitution left Singapore and arrived at Turon, Cochinchina (now Da Nang, Vietnam) on May 10th, and learned that a French missionary, Domanique Lefebvre, was held captive and sentenced to death. With this in mind, Percival and a squad of Marines went ashore and demanded the safe return of Lefebvre, and took three of the local leaders hostage for insurance. With no further negotiations, Percival ordered his men to capture three Chinese vessels, and stored them aboard USS Constitution. Two days later Percival released the hostages to show good faith, but none was shown in return. More problems ensued when a storm caused the captured Chinese ships to drift away, which needed a detachment of Marines to recover them. However, when supplies from the shore became cut off to the crew, Percival was forced to return the Chinese vessels in order to keep his ship and crew supplied. Lefebvre was never released despite Percival returning the captured leaders and ships, and USS Constitution departed on May 26th.

On June 20th, USS Constitution arrived at Canton, China, where she would spend the next six weeks as Percival made rounds of shore and diplomatic visits. While on route to Manila, the poor drinking water again caused the crew to be struck with dysentery, killing three of them, and sickening many more. They arrived in Manila on September 18th, and spent a week there preparing for sail of the Pacific Ocean. USS Constitution departed Manila on September 28th and reached Honolulu on November 16th, where Commodore John D. Sloat and flagship Savannah awaited them. Percival learned from Sloat that USS Constitution would be needed in Mexico, as the United States was preparing for war due to the Texas Annexation. After six months of preparing, Percival sailed for Mazatlan. Arriving on January 13, 1846, USS Constitution set anchor for over three long months. She was finally free to sail home on the 22nd of April, unaware that the Mexican War would begin in just a few weeks (May 13th) after their departure. USS Constitution arrived in Boston on September 27th, and was placed in ordinary on October 5th.

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USS Constitution – World Tour: Mediterranean and Pacific Squadrons

by johnk on 31. May, 2010 in Model Ship History

Once Elliot became captain of USS Constitution, he ordered repairs to the Jackson figurehead, this time in New York where he avoided the controversy that arose in Boston. On March 16, USS Constitution departed for France to bring Edward Livingston to his post as Minister, and arrived on April 10. On the voyage back home, USS Constitution, navigated recklessly by her Officer of the deck, nearly crashed off the Isles of Scilly. USS Constitution made it safely back to Boston on June 23rd, and once again set sail on August 19th to be stationed as a flagship in the Mediterranean.

USS Constitution reached Port Mahon on September 19th, and her two year duty alongside United States proved uneventful, comprised mainly of routine patrols and diplomatic visits. However, from these mundane events Elliot would manage to still find a way to be suspended from duty. This is because from April 1837 to February 1838, Elliot began collecting ancient artifacts to take back to America, of which he also took many kinds of livestock on the return back to Norfolk on July 31st. The conduct of transporting livestock on a US Navy ship caused Elliot’s suspension.

Under the command of Captain Daniel Turner, and as flagship of the Pacific Squadron, USS Constitution sailed on March 1, 1839, to patrol the western most coast of South America. This patrolling duty led to months being spent in port at a time, where the crew entertained themselves with the beaches and bars of locals such as: Valparaiso, Callao, Paita, and Puna. On USS Constitution’s return voyage, the Emperor of Brazil, Pedro II, visited her on August 29, 1841 in Rio de Janeiro. On the way back, USS Constitution suffered damage from an accidental collision with another vessel, Queen Victoria, but only sustained minor damage. USS Constitution returned to Norfolk at last on October 31st. By June 22nd the following year, USS Constitution was recommissioned with Foxhall Alexander Parker as its commander, and for service with the Home Squadron. The Home Squadron was part of the United States Navy, and was used to protect coastal commerce, to help ships in distress, and to suppress piracy and slave trading, among other duties. After months spent in port, USS Constitution was sea bound again in December, but was quickly put back into ordinary after three weeks.

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USS Constitution – Old Ironsides

by johnk on 28. May, 2010 in Model Ship History

USS Constitution exceeded all expectations of wooden ships during its era, of which ten to fifteen years was the expected service life – USS Constitution was thirty-one years old. When the Secretary of the Navy, John Branch, issued a routine order for surveys of all ships in ordinary, the commandant of the Charlestown Navy Yard, Charles Morris, estimated USS Constitution’s repair cost to be over $157,000. This led to the Boston Advertiser to falsely claim on September 14, 1830, that the Navy was subsequently going to scrap USS Constitution. Due to this, a poem by Oliver Wendell Holmes entitled “Old Ironsides” was published in the Boston Advertiser two days later, and eventually made its words felt throughout the entire country. This prompted the public to rise up in an effort to save “Old Ironsides” from a fate in the scrap yard. Not surprisingly, Secretary Branch did approve the tremendous costs to repair USS Constitution, and small repairs became underway while awaiting the repair of the dry dock, which would house the ship’s major repairs.

After the dry dock was repaired, USS Constitution was witnessed docking on June 24, 1833, by a prestigious crowd of on lookers, which included: Vice President Martin Van Buren, Levi Woodbury, Lewis Cass, and Levi Lincoln. Captain Jesse Elliott, who was the new commander of the Navy Yard, oversaw the reconstruction process of USS Constitution. Like many times before it, souvenirs were made from USS Constitution’s old planking. Isaac Hull ordered pieces of the old planking to be made into walking canes, and picture frames. President Andrew Jackson even received a memento from USS Constitution’s old planking – a single horse carriage, or “phaeton”. An even bigger gift to President Jackson was Elliot’s installation of a Andrew Jackson figurehead underneath of the bowsprit, which sparked violent protests due to Jackson’s unpopularity in Boston at that particular moment. Captain Elliot himself received death threats, and rumors spread that Boston citizens would storm the yard and remove the figurehead themselves.

The threats of the latter were realized when a merchant captain by the name of Samuel Dewey made a bet that he could remove the Jackson figurehead from the bowsprit of USS Constitution. While using a thunderstorm as a guise to cloud his movements, Dewey made his way across the Charles River in a small boat and managed to saw off the Jackson figurehead before anyone could notice. The head of Jackson would see its way through taverns and meeting houses before Dewey would personally return it to the Secretary of the Navy, Mahlon Dickerson. The severed Jackson figurehead would remain on Dickerson’s library shelf for many years, with busts of Isaac Hull, William Bainbridge, and Charles Stewart taking the place of Jackson as figurehead.

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USS Constitution Wars – Civil War

by johnk on 26. May, 2010 in Model Ship History

At the onset of the American Civil War in April 1816, threats from Confederate sympathizers against USS Constitution prompted her relocation to a safe distance further north. To protect her, several companies made up of Massachusetts volunteer soldiers were stationed aboard USS Constitution. At first, R.R. Cuyler had USS Constitution towed to New York City on April 29, but later relocated her once again, as well as the Naval Academy, to Fort Adams near Newport, Rhode Island, for much of the war. After the sister ship United States was left by the Union and subsequently captured by the Confederacy at Gosport Shipyard in Norfolk, USS Constitution became the only remaining frigate of the United States original six frigates.

The US Navy’s last sailing frigate, Santee, was launched in 1855. As steamships began replacing sail powered ships in the US Navy during the 1850s, many of the sailing powered ships became assigned for training duty. With the formation of the United States Naval Academy in 1845, there became a growing need for student housing quarters, and in 1857, USS Constitution was moved to dry dock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard on August 1, 1860, to be converted into a training ship. During this process, many of the earliest photographs of USS Constitution were taken. The refitting added classrooms on her spar and gun decks, reduced her armament to 16 guns, and changed her rating to a 2nd rate ship.

In honor of USS Constitution’s long tradition of service, the US Navy launched a new ironclad on May 10, 1862, that was dubbed New Ironsides. This USS Constitution successor was created to take part in the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron’s bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 7, 1863. However, New Ironsides’ career was not to last long, as she was destroyed by fire while in ordinary at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on December 16, 1865.

USS Constitution, and the rest of the Naval Academy, was once again moved, this time to Annapolis, on August 1865. In route, USS Constitution sailed on her own merit, and was recorded running at 9 knots, or 10 mph, and set port in Hampton Roads some ten hours ahead of the tug. Upon arrival, a new set of upgrades were constructed for USS Constitution, that included steam pipes, radiators, and gas lighting. Her new position was a summer training cruise course for midshipman, and would depart each year from June to August. For the remainder of the year she would function as a classroom. William Bryant, the last know plank owner of USS Constitution died in June,1867, in Maine. From there, George Dewey took command that November, and served as commanding officer until 1870. The following year, USS Constitution’s condition was so poor that she was retired as a training ship and placed in ordinary at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on September 26.

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USS Constitution Battles – Capture of Cyane

by johnk on 21. May, 2010 in Model Ship History

After the Royal Navy’s Captain George Collier was handed command of HMS Leander, he was sent to North America to confront the frigates under American command that were devastating British merchant shipping paths. At this, Charles Stewart saw an opportune moment to slip out of the Boston Harbor on December 18, making his way for Bermuda. Meanwhile, Collier rounded up a squadron composed of Leander, Newcastle, and Acasta, but were still unable to take down the notorious USS Constitution.

By December 24, USS Constitution had overtaken Lord Nelson and maintained its prize crew aboard, which housed a bountiful Christmas dinner for the famished crew of USS Constitution.

While off of Cape Finisterre on February 8, 1815, Charles Stewart received word that the Treaty of Ghent was signed. However, Stewart was well aware that war would still ensue until the treaty had been officially ratified. While on February 16, the USS Constitution captured the British merchantman ship Susanna and escaped with $75,000 worth of animal hides. Afterwards, the crew of USS Constitution spotted two British ships, HMS Cyane and Levant, and began chasing the two on February 20.

While at first USS Constitution appeared outmatched by both Cyane and Levant’s devastating broadsides against it, Stewart eventually out maneuvered the two British ships, and soon forced Levant to retreat for repairs. With Levant out of the picture, USS Constitution focused on Cyane, and managed to overtake her. Levant came back from its repairs, but upon seeing Cyane’s fate, Levant attempted to high tail it out of USS Constitution’s sight. However, USS Constitution still managed to attack, and capture, Levant, with a series of devastating broadsides that struck through her colors.

Stewart stayed with his conquered prizes while having his triumphant USS Constitution repaired from the little damage she maintained from battle. Old Ironsides lived up to her name even more when USS Constitution was discovered to have twelve 32-pound British cannonballs lodged in her hull, of which none could penetrate through. After repairs, the crew of USS Constitution set a course for the Cape Verde Islands, and made port at Porto Praya on March 10.

On the next morning, Stewart, still unaware of Collier’s pursuit, spotted Collier’s squadron and ordered his ships to sail immediately. The now American possessed Cyane was lucky enough to have been able to avoid this squadron, and made sail to America, but Levant was recaptured by the British. Collier, distracted by recapturing Levant, had USS Constitution slip through British forces once again.

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