Old Ironsides

Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!

Long has it waved on high,

And many an eye has danced to see

That banner in the sky;

Beneath it rung the battle-shout,

And burst the cannon's roar:

The meteor of the ocean air

Shall sweep the clouds no more!

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,

Where knelt the vanquished foe,

When winds were hurrying o'er the flood

And waves were white below,

No more shall the victor's tread,

Or know the conquered knee:

The harpies of the shore shall pluck

The eagle of the sea!

O better that her shattered hulk

Should sink beneath the wave!

Her thunders shook the mighty deep,

And there should be her grave:

Nail to the mast her holy flag,

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the god of storms,

The lightning and the gale!

Oliver Wendell Holmes

(Written with reference to the proposed breaking up

of the famous U.S. Frigate Constitution)

Engagement between the U.S. Frigate “Constitution” and H.M.S. “Guerriere,”

 (1895)

Carlton Theodore Chapman

 (1860–1925)

Built in the North Boston shipyard of Edmund Hartt,

and named by President George Washington, the

USS Constitution, a.k.a. "Old Ironsides" was the

third of six original frigates authorized for 

construction by the US Naval Act of 1794.

Her first call of duty was to protect American

cargo ships during a brief altercation with France, and

later, to combat the scourge of the high seas, 

better known as the Barbary Coast corsairs,

  pirates who were attacking American ships

off the coast of northern Africa.

The Constitution is best known for the War of 1812

when she captured numerous British merchant ships 

and defeated several British war ships, most notably

the HMS Guerriere, which earned her the nickname,

"Old Ironsides".

During the American Civil War, 

the Constitution served as a training ship at the 

US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

She was also instrumental in carrying exhibitions of 

American art and industry to the Paris Exposition of 1878.

The Constitution was retired from active service in 1881,

and became a museum ship in 1907.

In 1997, the Constitution once again took to the sea,

sailing under her own power to celebrate her 200th birthday.

In 2012, some fifteen years since that sail, the

Constitution took to the water again to 

commemorate her victory over the HMS Guerriere.

 According to All Hands, Magazine of the US Navy website,

the Constitution, which was dry docked for work at the Charleston Navy Yard

in May 2015 will be re-floated and returned to her regular pier

at the Navy Yard in the fall of 2017.

More information about the US Constitution is available at:

http://www.navy.mil/ah_online/constitution/