FAMOUS

SHIPS

 The U.S.S. CONSTITUTION, arguably the most famous sailing ship of the U.S. Navy. She was beyond a doubt one of the finest frigates of her day. She was 175 feet long, 43.5 feet in breadth and 22.5 feet in depth with a displacement of 2,200 tons. She had a complement of 450. Rated as a 44 gun warship, she actually carried 30 X 24 pounders and 22 X 12 pounders (these were later replaced with short-range 42 pounder carronades.) She was designed by Joshua Humphreys and built by Edmund Hartt of Boston, launched in 1797.
CONSTITUTION first saw action in the Quasi-War with France, during which she captured a number of smaller ships and privateers in the West Indies. She was place in ordinary in 1801 in the Charlestown Navy Yard. She next became of use during the difficulties with the Deys of Algiers, Morocco, Tunis and Tripoli. Sailing as the flagship of the American Mediterranean Squadron in 1803, she set up and maintained a tight blockade of Tripoli. As part of this blockade, she participated in the bombardment of Tripoli in August and September of 1804. The Deys of Algiers and Tunis were finally forced to sign treaties exempting American ships from tribute payments. During many of the operations that were carried out during this foreign entanglement (and you thought this all started with Korea after WWII), the fledgling American Navy was greatly admired by many of the more powerful navies of the world at that time. Lord Nelson observed that “there is in the handling of those transatlantic ships a nucleus of trouble for the navy of Great Britain.”

After her engagements with the Deys, she went home for refit at New York. In 1809 CONSTITUTION joined Commodore John Rodgers’s North Atlantic Squadron. The following year Captain Isaac Hull assumed command of her. The beginning of the War of 1812 did not start well for the CONSTITUTION – her carrier almost ended before it had started. The beginning of the war found her at Annapolis, Maryland. She put to sea on July 5th, and when off the coast of New Jersey on July 17th, spotted ships that were Atlantic Squadron. These ships turned out to be a British squadron – H.M.S. AFRICA (64 guns), SHANNON (38 guns), GUERRIERE (38 guns), BELVEDIRA (36 guns), AEOLUS (32 guns) and a recently captured U.S. brig NAUTILUS (12 guns.) This British fleet was commanded by Captain Sir Philip Broke. In a spirited and amazing 66 hour race that ensued, the CONSTITUTION kept out of range of all the British ships, any one of which could have engaged the CONSTITUTION long enough for the rest of the fleet to come up to the battle. This was accomplished through kedging ahead with her anchors, by towing with her boats (there were very light airs during much of the chase), and finally by “very superior sailing” as stated by Captain Broke when the wind finally made itself felt.
Having escaped this worst of fates, the CONSITUTION found herself cruising the Grand Banks south of Newfoundland on August 19 when she encountered H.M.S. GUERRIERE. Captain James Dacres of the GUERRIERE was a willing combatant and had only recently informed Commodore Rogers to meet “U. States frigate PRESIDENT…or any other American frigate of equal force for the purpose of having a few minutes tete-a-tete.) At 1700, GUERRIERE opened fire at long range. Hull did not begin firing until 1805, when at a very short distance of half a pistol shot, he gave the order to open fire. At the conclusion of the first tremendous broadside administered to the GUERRIERE by the CONSTITUTION, Captain Hull exclaimed, “By heaven, that ship is ours!” Twenty five minutes later this became a fact as the GUERRIERE was dismasted and wallowing in the heavy seas. CONSTITUTIONS casualties were seven dead and seven wounded, GUERRIERE had 78 dead and wounded and was so shattered that Hull ordered her blown up the next day. It was during this, her first real battle, that the CONSTITUTION was given the nickname “Old Ironsides,” as shot was seen to bounce off her sides. CONSTITUTION returned to Boston with the thrilling news that uplifted the entire nation with the victory. When the news reached England, the London Times wrote “It is not merely that an English frigate has been taken, but that it has been taken by a new enemy, an enemy unaccustomed to such triumphs, and likely to be rendered insolent and confident by them.”
Family affairs drove Captain Hull to hand over command of the CONSTITUTION to Captain William Bainbridge. On route to the South Pacific to join U.S.S. ESSEX and U.S.S. HORNET, CONSTITUTION ran into H.M.S. JAVA on December 29, 1812 off the coast of Brazil. Captain Henry Lambert of the JAVA was only too willing to give battle, which was joined at about 1400 when the CONSTITUTION opened fire at about half a mile. In the beginning JAVA had the better of the battle, but as things progressed it got worse and worse. By 1725 CONSTITUTION’S overwhelming firepower and superior gunnery had reduced the JAVA to a mastless hulk. Captain Lambert and another 123 of his crew were killed or wounded – CONSTITUTION had 34 casualties (52 according to the British.) JAVA was so riddled with shot that she, too, had to be blown up. The victory was dramatic, but resulted in the damaged CONSTITUTION having to return to Boston preventing Bainbridge from continuing his cruise against the British shipping.

The CONSTITUTION returned to Boston after her victory over the JAVA.  Captain Bainbridge, who had been wounded in the battle, was replaced by Captain Charles Stewart.  She had a brief cruise to the Caribbean in early 1814, returning to Boston.  She finally slipped the British blockade in late December of 1814.  A week after the war had officially ended , February 20, 1815, she sailed into action with HMS CYANE (22) and LEVANT (20) off Madeira.  In the ensuing action, she forced both ships to strike and took them as prizes, but she subsequently lost the LEVANT through recapture by the British on March 11^th.  CONSTITUTION arrived at New York on May 15^th, at that time the most celebrated ship in the U.S. Navy.

She was out of commission for the next six years, then served in the Mediterranean between 1821 to 1828.  She was then scheduled for scraping two years later but was saved this time by the public outcry sparked by the publication of the poetic encomium by Oliver Wendell Holmes.  She was rebuilt, emerging in 1835 to sail on a number of diverse assignments, including the Mediterranean and Home Squadron, and the South Pacific stations, and, in 1844-46, a 29-month circumnavigation of the world.  She served as a training ship during the Civil War and rebuilt for the third time in the 1870’s.  In 1897 she was brought to Boston for preservation.  She now faced her most challenging rebuilding program, that undertaken in 1927.  We will investigate this little known rebuild in more detail.

To start with, in 1923 she was badly disintegrating and distorted, being eleven inches wider in the port side than on the starboard, and her stem was twisted eight inches to port. By 1927 she had multiple problems:

1.      She originally cost $93,000.00 to build.  She now cost $923,000.00 to rebuild, $271,000.00 being collected by school children, the rest being appropriate by Congress and by sale of her copper bolts made by Paul Revere.

2.      There were no authentic plans of the frigate (does that sound familiar?).  The best plans were tracings from the Bureau of Construction and Repair in Washington, but these were found not to match the actual ship.  Mr. Humphrey’s plans were available, but these were also not correct due to the many changes made during her construction.  In the end, working drawings were made by applying half-breadths lifts from the decks of the ship herself, and then comparing with Humphrey’s plans, which were on a different scale.  With this in mind, these plans are today considered the most accurate plans of the ship

3.      There were few records of any wooden vessel so old as the CONSTITUTION being safely dry-docked.  Even a very decrepit ship can hold herself together in the water where she is evenly supported all around.  But to mount the same ship in dry dock on keel blocks puts uneven strains on her, which can readily cause her to fall apart.  With the CONSTITUTION this meant 2,000 tons (about the weight of a World War II destroyer) had to be transferred by rotten frames to a weakened keel.  (She has been dry docked since, of course, but in much better condition.)

This was the main challenge that faced Lieutenant John A. Lord, USN.  He entered the Navy as a carpenter, and as a “mustang” rose to commissioned rank.  He served for several years on the China station in charge of maintenance of our river gun boats there.  It is reported that he requested the assignment to rebuild the CONSTITUTION.  He turned out to be an excellent choice for the assignment.

The docking of the CONSTITUTION was quite a ceremony with the Secretary of the Navy, numerous admirals, and the Governor of Massachusetts present.  She was warped into the same old dry dock, which had received her as its first client nearly 94 years before.

The first step was to remove her guns, her masts, her bowsprit, her ballast, and all her interior fittings to lighten the hull as much as possible.  Then, a heavy timber cribwork was built on the spar deck.  Over this, as a fulcrum, were passed two heavy cables running fore and aft, one on each side of the masts.  They were carried through the hawse holes in the bow and secured to a huge timber outside the hull at her stern and just above the rudder.  They were hauled well taught.

This bracing formed a truss to support the ends, since the whole hull was so weak, distorted and hogged that there was danger of the ends falling away.  The truss was hauled taught by turnbuckles.  To supplement the truss, a cable was run all around the ship at the level of the gun ports.  Cross-ship cables were passed through every third gun port and drawn up with turnbuckles.  Internally she was supported by over two hundred shores set in a fore and aft plane and having slip-joints to permit adjustment as the hull worked during settlement on the keel blocks.  In this well trussed condition, the USS CONSTITUTION was successfully docked, blocked and shored for her restoration.

The most delicate operation was settling her on the keel blocks as the dock was slowly pumped out.  It was found that the CONSTITUTION was hogged in her original launching.  Her keel arched upwards 14 inches!  This minor discrepancy was never fixed and it does not seem to have hurt her – she has operated with this hog all her life.  The keel blocks in the dock were all of uniform height, so the bow and stern first make contact with the blocks as the water was pumped out.  The CONSTITUTION was further lowered until her weight straightened out the keel on the keel blocks, so that new keelsons could be installed.  It must have fearfully wracked the hull, but she stood it.  She was more rotten than anyone realized and it was possible to wrench her as it would not have been possible with a stiffer ship.

 The distortion of her port side and her twisted stem were corrected by tackle attached to bollards on shore while her shores held her from being dragged sideways.  There was literally a forest of shores place under her hull which included the overhanging part of the stem which carried the billet head.

 The next step was to obtain the right timber for her reconstruction.  Fortunately, the Navy, prior to the Civil War, had cut white oak in Pensacola, Florida, and kept it stored under water.  This timber was still there and in excellent condition.  Besides these 1500 tons of oak lumber, and additional two hundred white oak knees were required.  It took two years to get them.  Douglas fir from Oregon for the deck beams, deck planking and ceiling were obtained.  Additional material came from every state, from copper to marine glue.

  Another problem was finding experienced shipwrights and boatswains familiar with the heavy rope of the shrouds, etc.  Once all the materials and experience was found, the work began in earnest.  Each step had to be carefully planned as old timber was replaced with new, ensuring that at all times the ship would be safely supported during the work.

 All of the decayed and rotten planks were removed, particularly the 7 inch outside white oak planking.  The upper ends of the frames were thus exposed and templates made to copy the curves of that part of the frame necessary to be replaced.  The decayed futtocks were carefully cut away at the scarf, using hacksaws to cut through the bolts, and new sections installed.  Galvanized bolts were used, rather than using copper bolts as originally furnished.

 An example of the metal required in the ship is demonstrated as follows: A piece of timber 9 feet long, 27 inches wide, 14 inches thick, and weighing 1,460 pounds was removed from her.  On breaking it up, in it were found 364 pounds of iron and 163 pounds of copper.

 The spar and gun decks were stripped of their planking to expose the deck beams whose ends were decayed.  New beams were installed.  The CONSTITUTION'S keel was found to be in good shape, but the keelson had to be replaced.  Many of the lignum-vitae deadeyes and some of the blocks were found fit for use, but some 1,300 new blocks were needed.  All new spars were made, mostly in the Navy Yard spar shop (they still had one then).  All her standing rigging was made in the Charleston Navy Yard ropewalk (I do not think that this any longer exists, but it did in 1927.)  She was re-coppered up to her waterline, using sixty-five tons of copper.

 At this rebuild (1927), only 15% of the old vessel was re-used, and of this amount, only 10% of this material was built into the original ship.  This old material included the outer keel, lower futtocks, floor timbers, lower part of the stem, lower section of the stern post, about 30% of the outside planking below the waterline, some large oak stern knees, about 50% of the breast hooks and 35% of the oak knees. 

 Many of her fittings were reinstalled.  Her cannon (24-pounders) were carefully copied from guns of  1812, and were cast in the yard.  These are accurate as far as research can determine, except that the touch holes have not been drilled completely through the barrel.  This was a concession to prevent tampering by visitors.  If a woman visitor will attempt to walk off the ship with a 24-pound cannon ball hidden under her coat (this really happened), there was no telling what someone might try, even to a 5,000 pound cannon!

 Her new spars were installed (old piece under the foremast, silver coin under the main, and copper coin under the mizzen) and she received her ballast of 103 tons of grapefruit-sized round stones.

 Once rebuilt, the CONSTITUTION made an extended goodwill voyage in 1931-34, when she was towed to 76 ports along the Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts.  She is currently maintained as a museum ship at Boston.  The USS CONSTITUTION is the oldest commissioned ship in the U.S. Navy and the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world.

 In 1954, President Eisenhower sighed a bill that would guarantee the CONSTITUTION maintenance for life.  Such authorization permitted the Navy to spend $890,000.00 for the vessel’s preservation and, in 1957, she was again hauled up onto the same dry dock.  This is a continuing process – she had again received some re-work recently.  This is an ongoing tale that may never end!  As everyone knows, wooden ships require constant upkeep.