USS Constitution - Frigate of the United States Navy
Official U.S. Navy file photo of USS Constitution setting sail in Boston Harbor during the ship's second and final chief petty officer heritage week underway demonstration of 2014. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Victoria Kinney/Released) 140829-N-XP344-626 BOSTON (Aug. 29, 2014)
Preserved at Boston National Historical Park- Charlestown Navy Yard is the frigate USS Constitution. I won’t try to recount the history of the oldest commissioned warship still afloat. Below are photos of my visit to the ship in August of 2024. At that time the ship was undergoing repair, and many of the ship’s spars and rigging were not in place.
USS Constitution is armed with reproduction 24-Pounder Cannons and 32-Pounder Carronades which were produced for the ship at the time of her late 1920s major refit. An earlier set of replica cannons had been produced for USS Constitution in 1906-1907. The replica 24-Pounders currently aboard are styled after British guns and carry the Royal cypher and broad arrow of Royal Navy cannons. Though Constitution may well have carried some British made cannons in the War of 1812, it would seem unlikely that she carried an entire battery of former Royal Navy guns. The replica cannons can be compared to the late 18th Century US-manufactured 24-Pounder at Georgetown, South Carolina.
All of the photos below were taken by the author in August of 2024. As I try to take photos without recognizable people in frame, my shots were sometimes limited by the presence of fellow tourists. It was a joy to visit USS Constitution, and I highly commend a visit to you. It is also interesting to compare and contrast Constitution with Constellation at Baltimore.
Port side of USS Constitution seen as boarding in August 2024
Aft three carronades on the port side of the spar deck. The middle of the three has a loop under the barrel rather than trunnions on the side. The loop style mounting is likely more historically accurate. Note that all of the carronades are mounted on two part slide carriages.
Another view of the same three carronades as above. Note that the carronade with a loop is elevated by screw whereas the carronades with trunnions have a quoin.
Early 19th Century US Navy Carronade at Fort Macon in North Carolina. Note the loop under the barrel for mounting on the (reproduction) carriage.
The bilge pumps on the gun deck.
Reproduction 24-Pounders (circa 1926) on the gun deck of USS Constitution. The odd looking breech of the forward most 24-Pounder conceals the breech of a modern 40mm saluting cannon.
The galley on the gun deck of USS Constitution.
Reproduction 24-Pounders on the gun deck of USS Constitution
“Grog” barrel on the port side of the gun deck of USS Constitution
The forward end of the gun deck viewed from amidships of USS Constitution
The captain’s day cabin viewed from the aft end of the gun deck. Notice the 24-Pounder in this space (and the empty port for another cannon.)
The captain’s quarters are not on the tour route - this being the best view I could get of the aft most spaces.
Hammocks on the forward berth deck of USS Constitution. Below the gun deck, the berth deck is - as the hammocks would suggest - the primary sleeping and living space of the crew. Enlisted sailors slept in hammocks forward.
The wardroom (officers’ cabins) aft on the berth deck.
Another view of the wardroom of USS Constitution
The berth deck looking forward from the entrance to the wardroom.
Back on the spar deck - the gangway boards. Such boards have been preserved from a number of 19th century American warships.
Constitution’s masts, viewed from the stern.
Magnificiant model of USS Constitution displayed in a private facility in Wilmington, North Carolina
Model of USS Constitution as she existed at the beginning of the 20th Century at Boston - housed over as a receiving ship. Model in the Constitution Museum near the ship in Boston.
Cassin Young, a Fletcher-class destroyer, is located just a few hundred feet from USS Constitution
