After the revolution the United States of America’s economy depended on unrestricted, worldwide, sea born commerce. Previously guarded by His Majesty’s Royal Navy, America’s merchant ships were left unprotected against foreign threats, especially the Barbary pirates of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. After December 8, 1793 when eleven United States ships were captured and their Christian crews sold into slavery, President George Washington sent a letter to Congress officially urging action.

A select committee, “weighted heavily with people of maritime persuasion”() advised Congress that four 44-gun and two 22-gun ships needed to be constructed. Through heated debates along the normal North-South and inland-tidewater lines, Congress authorized the constructi

The USS CONSTITUTION is more than a ship it’s a symbol of American pride and power. She now resides docked in Boston Harbor, her birthplace, and stands for our proud naval history. Also since she is still a commissioned ship, in the United States Navy, in the highly unlikely and extremely hypothetical even that some foreign adversary invents an “anti-metal ray gun”, the United States would still have naval supremacy!

Three years after the keel was laid, the mighty ship was complete. With a total cost of $302,718, it was “as expensive to our young nation as aircraft carriers are today.” On October 21 1797, after two failed launching attempts the USS CONSTITUTION set out from her birthplace in Boston Harbor to represent America on the high seas. Displacing 2,200 tons, reaching 204 billets long, having a main mast height of 220 feet, reaching speeds of 13+ knots the ship was blisteringly fast for its size. Armed with a crew of 450 men, including 55 marines, along with thirty-two 24 pounder long guns, twenty 32 pounder Carronades, and two 24 pounder bow chasers, it was one of the most heavily armed frigates in existence, ever.

Some topics in this essay:
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