On 23 August 1779, the USS Constitution set sail from Boston, loaded with 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of water, 74,000 cannon shot, 115,000 pounds of black powder and 79,000 gallons of rum. Her mission: to destroy and harass English Shipping On 6 October, she made Jamaica, took on 826 pounds of flour and 688,300 gallons of rum. Three weeks later, Constitution reached the Azores, where she provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 300 gallons of Portuguese wine. On 18 November, she set sail for England where her crew captured and scuttled 12 English merchant vessels and took aboard rum. By this time, Constitution had run out of shot. Nevertheless, she made her way unarmed up the Firth of Clyde for a night raid. Here, her landing party captured a whiskey distillery, transferred 13,000 gallons aboard and headed for home. On 20 February 1780, the Constitution arrived in Boston with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum, and no whiskey. She did, however, still carry her crew of 475 officers and men and 18,600 gallons of water. The math is quite enlightening: Length of cruise: 181 days Booze consumption: 1.26 gallons per man per day (this DOES NOT include the unknown quantity of rum captured from the 12 English merchant vessels in November). Naval historians note that the reenlistment rate from this cruise was 92%. LOGISTICS LESSON LEARNED: Don’t load up with too much water.
perhaps if this behavior was still allowed there would be more people enlisting in the navy hell, sign me up!
The Constitution is the oldest (still) commissioned US warship. ~ "Old Ironside" is still doing something right...
Yep, I noticed that too nwmeyers.... and I could be wrong but I don't think that the Constitution ever raided the English Coast... it was intended for defending the US coast and shipping. t_joseph is right, but I believe she is also the oldest commissioned ship in the world?
She was launched in 1797...Maybe the Knight transposed the numbers... Just for the record...I did way too many fieldtrips to the Constitution as a grade school kid...
According to my friend Wikipedia : is a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named after the Constitution of the United States of America by President George Washington, she is the oldest commissioned vessel afloat in the world.[Note 1] Constitution, launched in 1797, was one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the Navy's capital ships, and so Constitution and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than the standard frigates of the period. Built in Boston, Massachusetts at Edmund Hartt's shipyard, her first duty with the newly formed United States Navy was to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War. Her most famous era of naval warfare was the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS GuerriereTemplate:WP Ships HMS instances, HMS JavaTemplate:WP Ships HMS instances, HMS PictouTemplate:WP Ships HMS instances, HMS CyaneTemplate:WP Ships HMS instances and HMS LevantTemplate:WP Ships HMS instances. 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 made a three year 90-port tour of the nation and in 1997 she finally sailed again under her own power for her 200th birthday.
I dug around and concur with klibben's knowledge. There doesn't seem to be any evidence supporting this. Also, taking on board nearly half a million gallons of rum at once? I don't know the numbers too well, but I'd be skeptical that she could take on that volume of cargo, let alone the weight in addition to her complement. The best source I can find to suggest any accuracy to this is a speech by then Sec of Defense John Dalton linked here: Visit this site in which he dates the actions during the war of 1812, which seems equally implausible given the available information on the whereabouts of the constitution at that time. Shes the oldest commissioned warship _afloat_ in the world. The brits have one older, but its in permanent drydock.
Ah, then I stand corrected Of course wikipedia isn't the most reliable source, but I'll trust it. Besides, it's a bit moot to commission a ship that can't float anymore (or at least hasn't in decades).
It does seem a bit strange, but apparently it comes complete with real sailors from what I've read...
yeah, the Royal Navy stations both sailors and officers onboard, just like the Constitution (although the Constitution needs them a bit more).
From what I have read, the Victory is the oldest commissioned ship in existence, the Constitution is the oldest commissinoned ship in existence that is still afloat. Not only is she still afloat, but still seaworthy as well. Weather permitting, I believe she still does the "turnaround cruise" every 4th of July.
As funny as the story is, it's not true. They have a thing on it at the museum adjacent to the Constitution in Bahsten. If you can find a copy of the National Geographic story on the 1997 overhaul and its significance, it's a GREAT read for anyone who gives a damn about old boats
Not too long ago. One of the History channels had a program about how the Navy has a special school aboard the USS Constitution. Where active duty sailors are assigned to her, and their graduation is sail her around the harbor.
By the way, I did not switch the numbers of the year. Someone else had done that for me. I had only cut and pasted what I had found. Looks like I should have researched it before posting. I had enjoyed the story too much to check into it any deeper.
