281
TIL the US Navy maintains a private forest to supply the wooden ship USS Constitution
(ussconstitutionmuseum.org)
this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025
281 points (99.0% liked)
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What do they do with this ship, does it just stay docked all the time
It goes sailing around Boston Harbor sometimes. Mostly it acts as a museum for the public.
For clarification, the USS Constitution typically does not sail or otherwise maneuver under her own power. Instead, she is towed by a tugboat. I think it has sailed under her own power only three times in recent history, starting back in 1997 when it was towed out of Boston harbor, sailed up the coast unassisted for about an hour, then was towed to Marblehead for a visit before returning to Boston. That was the first time in 116 years that it sailed unassisted.
Source: I was crewing on one of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary escort vessels and had a “front row seat” to the event.
Was there some fear of damage due to her sailing under her own power? Or just too slow?
The ship regularly undergoes maintenance, so it’s constantly checked for things like rot etc. and parts of the hull etc. are replaced as needed. There’s a dry dock at the Navy yard where it’s berthed and every few years the news says it’s being put there for a checkup.
During the sail my understanding is that the biggest concern was the use of modern materials in the sails & rigging. 200 years ago the sails would have been made of linen, which is fairly porous, so some percentage of wind would pass through it. Modern sails are made from materials based on plastics that catch virtually all the air. So the concern was if they raised all the sails they could introduce far more stress on the rigging & masts than the ship had ever encountered. So out of an abundance of caution they only used some of the sails.
I also remember hearing that during the planning of the event the Navy wanted to have a couple larger modern ships sail by as part of a salute. That was reportedly shelved when it was pointed out (by somebody not in the Navy) that the wakes of those larger boats were bigger than the Constitution itself.
They kinda do set all her sails because she only has six.
Sailing her under her own power was a project for her 200th birthday, and she hadn't sailed since the 19th century. She had no sails. They did a penny drive and collected enough money to have two jibs, three topsails and a spanker made, which is about enough to move the ship.
She's got no inner jibs, staysails, courses, topgallants or royals.
In that condition, she can apparently make about 4 or 5 knots, which is a brisk walking pace. I wonder if she has enough sail power to perform maneuvers like tacking or wearing. Or even just...handling certain currents with a quartering wind. "We can't go in that direction because our sails aren't powerful enough" rapidly becomes a thing. So she doesn't go anywhere without a tugboat nearby.
Cool
How sad. Most wooden ships run by other navies are used as training ships and visit events like Hamburg's Hafengeburtstag and Sail Amsterdam under their own steam.
None of those were built in 1797. It’s the world's oldest commissioned naval warship still afloat.
She's the flagship of the world's second largest navy: America's fleet of museum ships.
She's preserved as a historical artifact, both for her own sake (she had a noteworthy history in the nation's young life and a surprisingly long service career) and very simply as one of a few 18th century sailing ships left in existence. Uniquely among US museum ships, she's still owned and commissioned by the US Navy. USS Constitution is the oldest warship afloat in the world. HMS Victory is older, but she's permanently drydocked. USS Constitution is seaworthy, and the US Navy gets to claim by far the oldest commissioned warship in the world. She's a bit of an eternal flame in that regard.
As with everything the Navy does that isn't war, they'll list "interacting with the American public" and "recruiting" on her list of missions.
She is sometimes taken out for a cruise, often entirely under tow but every now and again they set the six sails she has and let her move under her own power, at about walking pace. As a treat.
Oldest commissioned warship afloat. The Victory is still commissioned (though she has been modified with stuff like holes below the waterline and wouldn't be able to float without more modification).
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