USS Constitution , rated as a gun frigate, was outfitted with 55 guns when she spotted the French-built, British-captured, gun frigate HMS Guerriere armed with 49 guns off the coast of Nova Scotia at 2 p.
On board Guerriere , Captain James Dacres ordered his experienced crew to begin firing broadsides at 5 p. Hull chose to hold fire until just after 6 p. Her sides are made of iron! Fifteen minutes into the battle, the two ships collided. Boarders from Constitution were called and were being led by Lieutenant William S. Bush, when he was killed by a Royal Marine sharpshooter, thereby becoming the first U.
Marine Corps officer to die in service to his country. Guerriere was blown up on August 20 and Constitution returned to Boston 10 days later to great fanfare. Never before in the history of the world did an English frigate strike to an American. Under the command of Capt. William Bainbridge, "Old Ironsides" was outfitted with 54 guns, and sailed under Secretary of the Navy Paul Hamilton's directive: "to annoy the enemy and afford protection to our commerce. Henry Lambert.
Wounded a second time in the thigh, Bainbridge passed steering orders to Marines in the ship's tiller room, who moved the rudder using block and tackle. When the British frigate's bowsprit became entangled in the opposing vessel's mizzen rigging, Bainbridge seized the opportunity to fire a final broadside.
As many as 60 British seamen were killed in action, including Capt. Following this battle, the British Admiralty - then the world's foremost maritime superpower - decreed their warships would no longer engage American frigates in combat unless in squadron force - that is, two or more to one.
George Douglas. What followed would be one of the most brilliant examples of seamanship and tactics in the war. In his official report, Capt. At about that time, Capt. They were so big that they could defeat any other frigate, and they were so fast that they could outrun any more powerful ship. In those days, it was not considered cowardly to run from a battle with a ship of war of greater size; it was regarded as prudent. It was in the great naval battle where the Constitution captured the British ship Guerriere.
A sailor on the Guerriere saw pound British cannonballs bouncing right off the hull of the Constitution. He exclaimed, "Huzza, her sides are made of iron! For one thing, it turns out that American oak is denser than English oak. That wasn't realized at the time. But there was another factor as well. When Humphreys constructed the Constitution, he knew she was going to take a lot of pounding. So he put the ribs on the sides of the ship only four inches apart. On conventional warships, the ribs were eight to ten inches apart.
It was The Age of Sail was waning, and the Age of Steam was getting under way. The Navy was just letting the old sailing ships deteriorate. An unknown year-old law student named Oliver Wendell Holmes published a poem about the Constitution' s fate in a Boston newspaper. Newspapers around the country picked up the poem. It was the beginning of the nation's interest in saving the ship. Old Ironsides stopped being the Navy's ship and started being the people's ship—and it has remained so to this day.
To me, it's the only movable monument in the country. What parts of the Constitution' s story did you find in the National Archives? Archivist Rebecca Livingston, an expert on naval warships, and her colleague, Kim McKeithan, were just terrific. They sat down with me and listened to what I was trying to do and steered me in the right direction. With both sides dead in the water and just out of gunnery range, a legendary slow-speed chase ensued.
At dawn on July 18, a breeze sprang, and the Constitution was far enough ahead of its pursuers to escape by sail. After considerable maneuvering, the Constitution delivered its first broadside, and for 20 minutes the American and British vessels bombarded each other in close and violent action.
The British man-of-war was de-masted and rendered a wreck while the Constitution escaped with only minimal damage. The unexpected victory of Old Ironsides against a British frigate helped unite America behind the war effort and made Commander Hull a national hero. The Constitution went on to defeat or capture seven more British ships in the War of and ran the British blockade of Boston twice.
Two years later, the navy considered scrapping the Constitution, which had become unseaworthy, leading to an outcry of public support for preserving the famous warship.
The navy refurbished the Constitution, and it went on to serve as the flagship of the Mediterranean, Pacific, and Home squadrons. In , the frigate left New York City on a global journey that included visits to numerous international ports as a goodwill agent of the United States. In the early s, it served as flagship of the African Squadron and patrolled the West African coast looking for slave traders.
In , the Constitution retired from active military service, but the famous vessel continued to serve the United States, first as a training ship and later as a touring national landmark. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! September 22, Second attempt to launch into Boston Harbor fails. October 21, Third attempt to launch into Boston Harbor succeeds. July 22, First cruise from Boston to the Caribbean.
June 24, — June 21, First dry docking of the ship in Boston for a significant rebuilding. August — July Mediterranean Squadron flagship. August 18, — March 1, In ordinary in Norfolk, Virginia. September 4, Captain John Gwinn dies in Palermo, Italy, becoming the first captain to die while in command of the ship.
March — June African Squadron flagship.
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