USS Constitution - Old Ironsides

[Clinton Huxley]

Watched a docu about the accuracy (or otherwise) of the film Master and Commander last night. The French ship in the film is based on the USS Constitution ( they changed the nationality of the baddies in the film so as not to upset the Merkins).

Interesting stuff. You really didn't want to be on the receiving end of the wood splinters when a cannon ball hit the hull...

Would love to see the USS Constitution. Ships had character in those days....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Watched a docu about the accuracy (or otherwise) of the film Master and Commander last night. The French ship in the film is based on the USS Constitution ( they changed the nationality of the baddies in the film so as not to upset the Merkins).

Interesting stuff. You really didn't want to be on the receiving end of the wood splinters when a cannon ball hit the hull...

Would love to see the USS Constitution. Ships had character in those days....

Remind me and I'll upload a copy of Interpreting Old Ironsides, co-written by a friend of mine, Christine Hughes of the US Naval History and Heritage Command. It's a history of the ship and her commanders and men.

[Clinton Huxley]

Would be interested to read that. I liked the bit in the docu about the navies of other nations putting landing parties ashore in the US to cut down and steal live oak for their own ships.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Would be interested to read that.

Gotta kill off a download and then I'll put it where you can get it.

I liked the bit in the docu about the navies of other nations putting landing parties ashore in the US to cut down and steal live oak for their own ships.

The Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Navy address this issue. The stands of live oak reserved for the Navy were being looted by everybody, US and foreign alike. The final conclusion was that there wasn't enough troops in the world to guard all of it.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Upload in progress.

[Clinton Huxley]

Upload in progress.

Much obliged

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Upload in progress.

Much obliged

It's 101 meg. I did a color version so Christine could pass it around. (The book was done at government expense, so it's public domain.) 42 minutes left in the upload.

[Ian]

Watched a docu about the accuracy (or otherwise) of the film Master and Commander last night. The French ship in the film is based on the USS Constitution ( they changed the nationality of the baddies in the film so as not to upset the Merkins).

Interesting stuff. You really didn't want to be on the receiving end of the wood splinters when a cannon ball hit the hull...

Would love to see the USS Constitution. Ships had character in those days....

Come to Boston sometime. I got to go onboard the Constitution during a school field trip when I was 13.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Watched a docu about the accuracy (or otherwise) of the film Master and Commander last night. The French ship in the film is based on the USS Constitution ( they changed the nationality of the baddies in the film so as not to upset the Merkins).

Interesting stuff. You really didn't want to be on the receiving end of the wood splinters when a cannon ball hit the hull...

Would love to see the USS Constitution. Ships had character in those days....

Come to Boston sometime. I got to go onboard the Constitution during a school field trip when I was 13.

I was extremely pissed off when I didn't get to go to NYC for the 4th in 1976.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Interpreting Old Ironsides (101 meg PDF file.)

[Clinton Huxley]

Thanks old chap. Have downloaded and put in iBooks. Had a quick flick, looks very interesting. Will read when away at work next week.

[Bella Fortuna]

They turned it into a bar here in town.

[Svartalf]

Interpreting Old Ironsides (101 meg PDF file.)

Could I have a 3 line summary please?
I have disc space problems, not to mention no printer and major attention deficit problems, so I'd like to know what this is about before I load it and either tie up the space for a few months, or devote a cd rom to it.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I visited Boston in 2000, but the ship was closed (for refit, if I remember rightly), so I didn't get to visit. What a bummer. It's amazing what men can do with a little hemp and wood, and a lot of guts.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Interpreting Old Ironsides (101 meg PDF file.)

Could I have a 3 line summary please?
I have disc space problems, not to mention no printer and major attention deficit problems, so I'd like to know what this is about before I load it and either tie up the space for a few months, or devote a cd rom to it.

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

USS CONSTITUTION was developed and built in response to the threat of Barbary corsairs, which threatened American merchant shipping off northern coast of Africa. Following the American Revolution, the United States' Continental Navy and disbanded, leaving the new nation without a credible seapower to defend its interests abroad. Signed into law on March 27, 1794 by President George Washington, the Naval Armament Act called for the construction of six frigates, to be built at shipyards along the eastern seaboard. The 44-gun USS CONSTITUTION, built in Boston, was launched on Oct. 21, 1797.

Following the American Revolution (1775-1783), the United States was a neutral and successful maritime trading party with England and France, countries that had been at war with each other since 1793. The British imposed embargoes and trade restrictions on America’s merchant fleet to limit trade with France, and, desperate for sailors to man her 600-ship fleet, impressed (kidnapped) more than 5,000 American sailors suspected of being former English subjects and forced them to serve aboard her ships. Also, territorial disputes over the Canadian border and America’s western frontier strongly contributed to the onset of the war.

As many Americans rallied around the slogan “Free Trade and Sailors’ Rights,” President James Madison declared war on England on June 18, 1812.

At the outset of the War of 1812, USS CONSTITUTION had already won all of her engagements in two wars: the Quasi War with France (1798-1801) and the Barbary Wars (1801-1805). During the War of 1812, to the surprise of both the Americans and the British, she defeated four English warships, earning each of her three captains
a congressional gold medal. Upon returning to Boston from each victory at sea, the ship and her sailors were honored with parades and public adoration, and her legend grew into the national icon that “Old Ironsides” remains to this day.

USS CONSTITUTION was among the 22 commissioned warships of the United States’ 18-year-old Navy, compared to more than 80 British vessels on station off America’s eastern seaboard in 1812. While the American fleet boasted many successes during the War of 1812, their actions had little impact on the outcome of the war.

“Objective analysis of the War of 1812 must conclude that the victories of Constitution … had no direct effect on the course of the war,” explained Tyrone G. Martin in his history of USS CONSTITUTION, A Most Fortunate Ship. “The losses suffered by the Royal Navy were no more than pinpricks to the great fleet: they neither inspired its battle readiness nor disrupted the blockade of American ports… What Constitution did accomplish was to uplift American morale spectacularly and, in the process, end forever the myth that the Royal Navy was invincible.”

Throughout the next four decades following the War of 1812, USS CONSTITUTION secured numerous bloodless victories until she was taken out of active service in 1855. However, she is best remembered for that unparalleled string of successes two centuries ago, and she has never fired a round in combat since February, 1815, during her battle with HMS CYANE and HMS Levant.

Although a peace treaty between the United States and England was signed on Dec. 24, 1814 in Ghent, Belgium, and ratified on Feb. 15, 1815, sporadic battles between the two erupted for the next several months. The War of 1812 marks the last time America and Great Britain were on opposing sides of an armed conflict, and the beginning of the former’s rise to joining the latter as the world’s premiere maritime superpower.