18 May 2015

History:

Lost Capitol Hill: The USS Constitution

Hull tnIn researching the history of the Navy Yard, I really wanted to find a connection between it and the oldest and arguably most famous ship in the Navy: Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution. While several other ships of the Constitution’s vintage were parked at the Navy Yard for a number of years in the early 19th Century, the Constitution was not one of them. In fact, it was only at the outbreak of the War of 1812 that Old Ironsides came to the Washington Navy Yard.

The USS Constitution was one of six frigates that were authorized by Congress in 1794. Laid down at a Boston shipyard later that year, she was launched on October 21, 1797. She served during the Quasi-War with France, as well as the First Barbary War. In the latter, she spent four years away from home, and had one of the peace treaties signed on board – as well as transporting the memorial to the war back to the United States.

Upon her return, she was overhauled and returned to duty, spending the next two years in training. In June 1810, her command was turned over to Isaac Hull, who commanded her during her most important engagements during the War of 1812.

When war was declared with England, the Constitution was at Washington Navy Yard, undergoing a thorough overhaul. Most importantly, she was careened, allowing her bottom to be cleaned of the barnacles and seaweed that was impeding her progress. As part of the repairs, she also was given a number of new spars, from which her sails were hung while underway. The overhaul required more of these than originally assumed, and so the day after the Constitution left the Navy Yard, Thomas Tingey sent an urgent message to Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton, requesting that his stock be replenished.

In fact, the Constitution’s departure on June 21st, 1812 – just three days after the declaration of war – had been so hasty that not all outfitting had been completed, and she had to park off of Annapolis to complete the process, before heading off to New York.

It would be less than two months later that the Consitution would acquire her nickname, during the battle with HMS Guerrierre. The Constitution survived direct shots from the other’s cannons, causing one crewman to shout “Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!” Eventually, the two ships crashed into each other, and in the ensuing fight both the Guerrierre and her crew were decimated, leaving the Constitution the clear victor.

The fight, as well as another victory over HMS Java a few months later sealed her fame, and even after she retired from active service in 1855, she continued to be used as a training ship. Over the next half-century, she was exhibited during the Paris Exposition, used for training, and as a receiving ship, ie, as a place for sailors to live while awaiting orders.

The USS Constitution in the Seattle Harbor in 1933. (LOC)

The USS Constitution in the Seattle Harbor in 1933. (LOC)

Some restoration was done around 1900, but the real work was not begun until 1927, after a large fundraising campaign finally ensured that any work that would be done would be of good quality, in contrast to much of the repairs done over the last century. When she was relaunched in 1931, it was decided that a trip all around the United States would be the appropriate way to thank all the many people that had donated for her conservation.

A year later, with the trip now fully planned, the USS Constitution pulled into the Washington Navy Yard one more time, again for a refurbishment – this time, however, a fairly short and minor one. On December 8, 1932, the Constitution set out from the Navy Yard and spent the next three years sailing down the East Coast, through the Panama Canal, and up the West Coast all the way to Bellingham, Washington, before returning to her home port Boston – where she remains today, in fact, in dry dock as another restoration continues.


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