Once again, I am guilty of posting something that turned out to be less than factual...or as was pointed out to me by a reader, it was "BS"!
To mislead anyone was not my intent, nor has it ever been. All I ever wanted to do was to pass on what I thought was a small tidbit of history. However, I did not check the information for accuracy first...so as the reader put it...it turned out to be all BULLSHIT!
So, consider this my official apology for telling you a lie! I am , therefore, posting this information that I found on Wikipedia. If this turns out to be a lie...I am NOT the one to blame!
USS Constitution 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 naval vessel afloat in the world.[Note 1] Launched in 1797, Constitution was one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young 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 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. 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.
There is more, but if you want to read it, just go to Wikipedia and do so! As for me...I'm done. I just wanted to set the record straight! Having done that, I'm going to have some more coffee!
You are welcome to join me if you want...! Your choice!
