The capability of this new class of heavy frigates came as a surprise to the Royal Navy. After the battle of USS Constitution vs. HMS Java, British frigates were prohibited from engaging the American heavy frigates in single combat. Instead they were required to have a numerical advantage before they were allowed to offer combat.
Frigate USS Constitution
The frigate USS Constitution is one of the 24 frigates built by the new nation of the United States to protect its merchant ships. She will stand out during the second war of independence in duels with British frigates. She is still in service.
Key features
Displacement:
2,200 tons
Dimensions:
53 m. x 13 m. x 4 m.
Speed:
13 nodes
Crew: 450 men including 55 marines, 30boys and 20 to 30 officers
Armament:
30 × 24 pounder (11 kg) long guns; crew 6-14; range: 1200 yards; weight : 5600 pounds
20 × 32 pounder (15 kg) carronade; crew: 4-9; range : 400 yards; weight : 2200 pounds.
2 × 24 pounder (11 kg ) bow chasers, range : 1000 yards.
She is the single survivor of the "Original Six" of the Navy, authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794.
She is the oldest commissioned naval ship afloat in the world. She destroyed or captured 32 enemy ships.
Built in Boston and launched on 10 October 1797, she was commissioning 11 days later.
Her first Commander was Captain Samuel Nicholson of October to June 1797. He had under his orders 22 officers and a crew of 378 men, sailors and midshipmen, including 30 boys and 50 Marines.
Admitted in active service in 1798, she participated in the war against France. She was then placed in ordinary on 2 July 1802.
But when a conflict broke out against the pirates of the Barbary coast in 1803, the Constitution is rearmed and leaved to the Mediterranean for four years.
Early 1812, relations with the United Kingdom were deteriorating and the Navy prepared for war, which was declared June 18.
Captain Isaac Hull, who was commissionned to the command of the USS Constitution in 1810, took the sea on 12 July to avoid remain stuck in the port, attempting to join the five ships of a squadron under the command of Rodgers
On 17 July, out of Halifax, USS Constitution found an English squadron which gave her chase. Finding becalmed, Hull instructed the crew to put boats over the side and to tow their ship out of range, using kedge anchors to draw the ship forward, and wetting the sails down to take advantage of every breath of wind. The British ships soon imitated the tactic and remained in pursuit. After two days and two nights of towing in the heat of this month of July, USS Constitution is finally able to escape.
On 19 August 1812, she met the frigate HMS Guerriere, who give her chase three weeks ago.l (Naval History of Great Britain)
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Comparison of forces |
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|
|
HMS Guerriere |
USS Constitution |
|
Fire power |
number of guns. |
28 × 18-pounder guns 16 × 32-pounder (15 kg) carronade 2 x 9 pounder guns |
30 × 24-pounder (11 kg) long guns 20 × 32-pounder (15 kg) carronade 2 × 24-pounder (11 kg ) bow chasers) |
|
Weight in pounds of a broadside. |
504 |
712 |
|
|
Crew(men) |
Number |
244 |
460 |
|
Displacement |
tons |
1092 |
1533 |
The British frigate opened fire first, but Hull held his ship's guns in check until the two warships were a mere 25 yards (23 m) apart, at which point he ordered a full double-loaded broadside of grape and round shot ,which shot the mizzen mast. Both vessels were board and board on three occasions, but Marines’ musket shots prevented any boarding on both sides.
The third time, Guerriere's bowsprit found himself caught in the Constitution's rigging. When the two ships pulled apart, the force of the extracting bowsprit sent shockwaves through Guerriere's rigging. Her foremast soon collapsed and it took the mainmast down with it shortly afterward.
USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere by Michel Horn, 19 August 1812
Guerriere was now a dismasted hulk, so badly damaged that she was not worth towing to port, and Hull ordered her burned.
Hull has harnessed his heavier broadsides and his ship's sailing ability, while the English see with surprise their shot rebound harmlessly off Constitution's hull, also resistant to iron, where her nickname of "Old Ironsides".
On 29 December 1812 under the command of William Bainbridge, USS Constitution met the British frigate HMS Java, close to the Brazilian coasts. Although a shot fired by HMS Java has destroyed the rudder, killing four men, injuring Brainbridge, and forcing the crew to manually manoeuvre the rudder, the English frigate was obliged to surrender after two hours of combat. The Java badly damaged was burned. (Naval History of Great Britain)
After spending a large part of the year 1813 in dock for a restoration, the USS Constitution found herself blockaded the following year in Boston by a British Squadron. Finally making sail on 31 December, she set course for the West Indies to harass British shipping . Return to Boston, she would remain blockaded in port until mid-December. Charles Stewart saw a chance to escape out of Boston Harbor on the afternoon of 18 December, and again set course for Bermuda.
On 20 February, two sails were reported. Captain Charles Stewart, the last Commander of the frigate gave chase to the unknown sails. USS Constitution faced two English vessels : HMS Cyane and HMS Levant . The battle between the three vessels is described in the rofficiel Captain Stewart rapportt. In this duel the "Old Ironsides" appears far superior to British ships. Before the day falls, the Cyane and the Levant too struck their colors.
In fact, the peace was signed by the Senate, three days before, but the Constitution not learned the end of the hostilities that 28 April 1815.
USS Constitution then joined the American squadron in the Mediterranean, as a flagship ship and returned to Boston in 1828.
In 1830, public adoration saved her from scrapping.
Constitution remained in dry dock until 21 June 1834. The ship was rearmed in 1835 and served as flagship in the Mediterranean and the South Pacific again.
She underwent a refit and was recommissioned on 24 March 1844 for a scheduled three-year.
Recommissioning on 22 December 1852, under the command of John Rudd, Constitution carried Commodore Isaac Mayo for duty with the African Squadron, looking for ships carrying slaves.
In 1857, Constitution was moved to dry dock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard for conversion into a training ship for the United States Naval Academy.
Discharged from service in combat zones, the frigate was still in use in the U.S. Navy and after a further period of restoration in 1871, she carried artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of 1878.
Decommissioned in 1882, the frigate was used as training ship for new recruits to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
She returned to Boston to celebrate its centenary in 1897.
In 1925, she underwent a new refit.
After a new disarmament in July 1931, theConstitution was towed by The USS Grebe, for a tour in 90 port cities along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coast via the Panama canal.
Now protected by its status as a national icon, the frigate returned to serving as a museum to Boston after visited by more than 4.6 million people during this three-year journey.
In 1940, she was placed in permanent commission and an act of Congress in 1954 placed her maintenance under the direct responsibility of the Secretary of the Navy.
From 1992 to 1995, USS Constitution is restored in accordance with its original version, with many elements of the time, which was omitted in previous restorations, including Humphrey’s reinforcements diagonally.
On 21 July 1997, for its bicentenary, the Constitution sailed unassisted for 40 minutes, for the first time in 116 years. She attained a speed of 4 kn (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph).
The role of "Old Ironsides" is now of an Ambassador. As a fully commissioned US Navy ship, her crew of 60 officers and sailors 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