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USS Constellation (1797)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Constellation.

A painting of a sailing ship at sea. The ship has two masts and the sails are reefed while firing upon with another ship. The ship is sailing toward lower right hand corner of the frame.
USS Constellation by John W. Schmidt
History
United States
NameUSS Constellation
NamesakeThe 15 stars in the contemporary United States national flag[1]
Ordered27 March 1794[1]
BuilderDavid Stodder[2]
Cost$314,212
Launched7 September 1797[2]
HomeportBaltimore Maryland USA
Nickname(s)"Yankee Racehorse"
FateBroken up, 1853[1]
General characteristics
Class and type38-Gun frigate[1]
Displacement1,265 tons[1]
Length164 ft (50 m) between perpendiculars[2] length at Keel 136 feet[3]
Beam41 ft (12 m)[2] or 40 feet, 6 inches[4]
Depth of hold13.5 ft (4.1 m)[2]
DecksOrlop, Berth, Gun, Spar
PropulsionSail (three masts, ship rig)
Complement340 officers and enlisted[2]
Armament

USS Constellation was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate of the United States Navy.

The ship was built under the direction of David Stodder at The Joseph and Samuel Sterett shipyard on Harris Creek in Baltimore's Fell's Point maritime community, and was launched on 7 September 1797. Constellation was one of the original six frigates whose construction the Naval Act of 1794 had authorized.

The name "Constellation" was among ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering in March 1795 for the frigates that were to be constructed.[5][6] The Flag Act of 1777 speaks of how the stars in the flag are "representing a new constellation".

Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Constellation and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. The Constellation's first duties with the newly formed U.S. 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.

  1. ^ a b c d e "Constellation". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Chapelle 1949, p. 536
  3. ^ Naval Documents related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France (PDF). Vol. VII Part 1 of 4: Naval Operations December 1800-December 1801, December 1800-March 1801. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 365. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via Ibiblio.
  4. ^ Naval Documents related to the Quasi-War Between the United States and France (PDF). Vol. VII Part 1 of 4: Naval Operations December 1800-December 1801, December 1800-March 1801. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 365. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via Ibiblio.
  5. ^ Pickering, Timothy (14 March 1795). Letter to George Washington. Founders Online, National Archives. Retrieved 25 September 2019
  6. ^ Brodine, Charles E.; Crawford, Michael J.; Hughes, Christine F. (2007). Ironsides! the Ship, the Men and the Wars of the USS Constitution. Fireship Press. p. 8. ISBN 9781934757147.

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