OceanShooter : Ship and Boat

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USS Constitution (wallpaper 4). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 4. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 4. Built in an era when a wooden ship had an expected service life of ten to fifteen years, Constitution was now thirty-one years old. A routine order for surveys of ships held in ordinary was requested by the Secretary of the Navy John Branch; the commandant of the Charlestown Navy Yard, Charles Morris, estimated a repair cost of over $157,000. On 14 September 1830, an article appeared in the Boston Advertiser that erroneously claimed the Navy intended to scrap Constitution. Two days later, Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem "Old Ironsides" was published in the same paper and later all over the country, igniting public indignation and inciting efforts to save "Old Ironsides" from the scrap yard. Secretary Branch approved the costs, and she began a leisurely repair period while awaiting completion of the dry dock then under construction at the yard. USS Constitution (wallpaper 4). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 4. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 4. In contrast to the efforts to save Constitution, another round of surveys in 1834 found her sister ship Congress unfit for repair; she was unceremoniously broken up in 1835. CONSTITUTION, Commodore William Bainbridge, stood out from Boston on 26 October. On 29 December 1812 she added to her conquest the British 38-gun frigate JAVA whom she engaged off the coast of Brazil. Despite loss of her wheel early in the fighting, CONSTITUTION fought well. Her superior gunnery shattered the enemy's rigging, eventually dismasting JAVA, and mortally wounding her captain. JAVA was so badly damaged that she, too, had to be burned. The seemingly invincible "OLD IRONSIDES" returned to Boston late in February for refitting and her wounded commander was relieved by Captain Charles Stewart. CONSTITUTION departed on 31 December for a cruise in the Windward Islands. On 15 February she seized and destroyed the schooner PICTOU and 9 days later chased the schooner PIQUE who escaped. She also captured three small merchantmen on this cruise, characteristically successful despite a close pursuit by two British frigates along the coast of Massachusetts. CONSTITUTION moored safely at Boston only to be bottled up for nearly 9 months by the vigorous British blockade. USS Constitution (wallpaper 4). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 4. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 4.

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USS Constitution (wallpaper 3). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 3. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 3. Constitution was recommissioned in December with Captain John Rodgers again taking command to oversee a major refitting. She was overhauled at a cost just under $100,000; however, Rodgers inexplicably ignored cleaning her copper sheathing, later leading him to declare her a "slow sailer". She spent most of the following two years on training runs and ordinary duty. When Isaac Hull took command in June 1810, he immediately recognized that she needed her hull bottom cleaned. "Ten waggon loads" of barnacles and seaweed were removed. Hull departed on 5 August 1811 for France, transporting the new Ambassador Joel Barlow and his family; they arrived on 1 September. Remaining near France and Holland through the winter months, Hull continually held sail and gun drills to keep the crew ready for possible hostilities with the British. After the events of the Little Belt Affair the previous May, tensions were high between the United States and Britain, and Constitution was shadowed by British frigates while awaiting dispatches from Barlow to carry back to the United States. They arrived home on 18 February 1812. USS Constitution (wallpaper 3). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 3. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 3. During the war, CONSTITUTION ran the blockade at Boston on seven occasions and made five cruises ranging from Halifax, Nova Scotia, south to Guiana and east to Portugal. She captured, burned, or sent in as prizes nine merchantmen and five ships of war. Departing Boston on 2 August she sailed to the coast of Nova Scotia, where she captured and destroyed two British trading ships. Cruising off the Gulf of St. Lawrence on 19 August, she caught sight of GUERRIERE, a fast British frigate mounting 49 guns. GUERRIERE opened the action, pouring out shot which fell harmlessly into the sea or glanced ineffectively from the hull of CONSTITUTION whose cheering crew bestowed on her the famous nickname "OLD IRONSIDES," which has stirred generations of Americans. As the ships drew abreast, Hull gave the command to fire and successive broadsides razed GUERRIERE's mizzen mast, damaging her foremast, and cut away most of her rigging. GUERRIERE's bowsprit fouled the lee rigging of CONSTITUTION, and both sides attempted to board, but the heavy seas prevented it. As the ships separated GUERRIERE fired point blank into the cabin of CONSTITUTION and set it on fire, but the flames were quickly extinguished. GUERRIERE's foremast and mainmast went by the board and she was left a helpless hulk. The flag of GUERRIERE was struck in surrender and when the Americans boarded her they found her in such a crippled condition that they had to transfer the prisoners and burn her. It was a dramatic victory for America and for CONSTITUTION. In this battle of only half an hour the United States "rose to the rank of a first-class power"; the country was fired with fresh confidence and courage; and union among the States was greatly strengthened. USS Constitution (wallpaper 3). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 3. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 3.

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USS Constitution (wallpaper 2). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 2. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 2. The Naval Act of 1794 provided for the construction of four ships carrying forty-four guns each, and two ships carrying thirty-six guns each. Constitution was the second of the forty-four gun frigates to be completed, and was given her name by President George Washington. Her keel was laid down on 1 November 1794 at Edmund Hartt's shipyard in Boston, Massachusetts, under the supervision of Captain Samuel Nicholson and naval constructor George Claghorn. CONSTITUTION, one of six frigates authorized by act of Congress, approved 27 March 1794, was designed by Joshua Humphreys, and built at Hartt's Shipyard, Boston, Mass., under the supervision of George Claghorn with Captain Samuel Nicholson as inspector. She was launched on 21 October 1797 and christened by Captain James Sever. Into the trim frigate's construction went timbers from States ranging from Maine to Georgia, as well as copper bolts and spikes supplied by Paul Revere. USS Constitution (wallpaper 2). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 2. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 2. A ship of beauty, power, and speed thus was fashioned as a national expression of growing naval interest, and a symbol auguring the dedication, courage, and achievement of American fighting men and ships. CONSTITUTION put to sea on 23 July 1798, commanded by Captain Samuel Nicholson, the first of many illustrious commanding officers. Following patrols along the Eastern Seaboard she became flagship on the Santo Domingo station, making several captures including the 24-gun NIGER, the SPENCER, and the letter-of-marque SANDWICH. At war's end, CONSTITUTION returned to the Charleston Navy Yard where she was placed in ordinary. In 1803 amid growing demand for tribute and increasing seizures by the Barbary pirates, CONSTITUTION was recommissioned under Captain Edward Preble and sailed as flagship of the Mediterranean Squadron on 14 August. Preble took command of the squadron and vigorously brought the war to Tripoli, executing well-laid plans with brilliant success. On CONSTITUTION's decks tactics for destroying the captured frigate, PHILADELPHIA, were laid as well as those for blockading and assaulting the fortifications of Tripoli. The small United States fleet on 3 and 7 August 1804 bombarded the enemy's ships and shore batteries with telling results. USS Constitution (wallpaper 2). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 2. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 2.

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USS Constitution (wallpaper 1). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 1. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 1. USS Constitution is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America, she is the world's oldest floating commissioned naval vessel. Launched in 1797, Constitution was one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed the frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Constitution and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. Built in Boston, Massachusetts at Edmund Hartt's shipyard, her first duties with the newly formed United States Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War. Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant. USS Constitution (wallpaper 1). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 1. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 1. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of "Old Ironsides" and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping. She continued to actively serve the nation as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons, and circled the world in the 1840s. During the American Civil War she served as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy and carried artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of 1878. Retired from active service in 1881, she served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907. In 1931 she started a three year 90-port tour of the nation, and in 1997 she finally sailed again under her own power for her 200th birthday. Constitution's mission today is to promote understanding of the Navy’s role in war and peace through educational outreach, historic demonstration, and active participation in public events. As a fully commissioned US Navy ship, her crew of 60 officers and sailors participate in ceremonies, educational programs and special events while keeping the ship open to visitors year-round and providing free tours. The officers and crew are all active-duty US Navy personnel and the assignment is considered special duty in the Navy. Traditionally, command of the vessel is assigned to a Navy Commander. She is berthed at Pier 1 of the former Charlestown Navy Yard, at one end of Boston's Freedom Trail. USS Constitution (wallpaper 1). USS Constitution ship images wallpaper gallery 1. USS Constitution ship pictures and images collection 1.