USS Constellation (1797)
USS Constellation by John W. Schmidt
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | USS Constellation |
| Namesake: | The 15 stars in the contemporary United States national flag |
| Ordered: | 27 March 1794 |
| Builder: | David Stodder |
| Cost: | $314,212 |
| Launched: | 7 September 1797 |
| Nickname(s): | "Yankee Racehorse" |
| Fate: | Broken up, 1853 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 38-Gun frigate |
| Displacement: | 1,265 tons |
| Length: | 164 ft (50 m) between perpendiculars |
| Beam: | 41 ft (12 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 13.5 ft (4.1 m) |
| Decks: | Orlop, Berth, Gun, Spar |
| Propulsion: | Sail (three masts, ship rig) |
| Complement: | 340 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: |
|
USS Constellation was a 38-gun frigate, one of the "Six Original Frigates" authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794. She was distinguished as the first U.S. Navy vessel to put to sea and the first U.S. Navy vessel to engage and defeat an enemy vessel. Constructed in 1797, she was modified several times in succeeding decades, and finally rebuilt beginning in 1853 as the sloop of war USS Constellation (1854).
American merchant vessels began to fall prey to Barbary Pirates, along the so-called "Barbary Coast" of North Africa, Morocco, Tunis (in future Tunisia), Tripoli (in future Libya), and most notably from Algiers (in future Algeria), in the Mediterranean Sea during the 1790s. Congress responded with the Naval Act of 1794. The Act provided funds for the construction of six frigates to be built in six different East Coast ports; however, it included a clause stating that construction of the ships would cease if the United States agreed to peace terms with Algiers. By the time of the conclusion in 1815, of the later War of 1812 with Great Britain, the United States had fought a series of three brief, but savage naval and amphibious wars.
Joshua Humphreys' design was long on keel and narrow of beam (width) to allow the mounting of very heavy guns. The design incorporated a diagonal scantling (rib) scheme to limit hogging and included extremely heavy planking. This gave the hull greater strength than those of more lightly built frigates. Humphreys developed his design after realizing that the fledgling United States could not match for size the navies of the European states. He therefore designed his frigates to be able to overpower other frigates, but with the speed to escape from a "ship of the line" (equivalent to a modern-day "battleship").
...
Wikipedia