Old “Ironsides”

January 11th, 2010 by chadd

The United States Constitution. Ordered on March 1st, 1794. This great ship was built in Edmund Hartt’s shipyard, it cost 1797 dollars back in 1794, the equivalent of almost 9,500,000 current U.S dollars. The USS Constitution was christened and launched on the 21st of October, 1797. The ships maiden voyage was on the 22nd of July, 1798. The ship was also renamed twice; first, being renamed “Old Constitution” in 1917, and again being renamed “Constitution” in 1925. The home port of this ship was the Charlestown Navy yard. The most commonly used nickname was “old Ironsides”, and the ship took many cannonballs to the hull, and just would not sink. The USS Constitution is still in active servaice to this day, after seeing multiple restorations by the U.S Navy. The ship was a 44-gun frigate, with a displacement of 2,200 tons. The ship was 204′ in total length, and 175′ at the waterline. The beam of the USS Constitution was 43′ 6″, the foremast was 198′, the mainmast was 220′, the mizzen mast was 172.5′, and the depth of the hold was 14′ 3″. The ship was moved by three massive masts, and moved the ship to a top speed of 13 knots (or 15 mph). The ship also had landing craft and other boats on board:

(1x) 36 ft longboat
(2x) 30 ft cutters
(2x) 28 ft whaleboats
(1x) 28 ft gig
(1x) 22 ft jolly boat
(1x) 14 ft punt

This wonderful ship also carried 450 officers and enlisted, including 55 marines and 30 boys. Now, for the ships armament;

(30x) 24-pounder long guns
(20x) 32-pounder carronades
(2x) 24-pounder bow chasers

!!!More pics and historical facts coming soon!!!

I used bits-and-pieces from the following sites:

www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org/

www.history.navy.mil/USSconstitution/index.html

www.ussconstitution.com/

www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/…/constitution/iron-hist.html

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