USS Constellation was a 38-gun frigate and the first ship to be commissioned in the United States Navy. She was distinguished as the first U.S. Navy vessel to put to sea and the first U.S. Navy vessel to engage, defeat, and capture an enemy vessel. Constellation was one of the six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794.
The original USS Constellation was constructed in 1797 by Joshua Humphreys and broken up for scrap in 1853 in Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia at the same time as the keel was laid for what would later be known as the second USS Constellation. In the later half of the 20th Century, the 1854 version was thought to be the 1797 version as the city of Baltimore promoted the ship as the original and some naval historians believed the Baltimore ship to be the rebuilt original. The paper "Fouled Anchors: The Constellation Question Answered", by Dana M. Wegner, et al., published by the Navy's David Taylor Research Center in 1991, concludes that they are different ships. The conclusive proof came during the renovation of the ship in Baltimore concluding in 1999 in which all evidence pointed to the construction of an entirely new sloop-of-war from the 1850s era and not the 1797 ship.
History of the original USS Constellation
On 27 March 1794, the United States Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794, which provided for building the US Navy its first new ships: the frigates Chesapeake, Congress, Constellation, Constitution, President, and United States. Constellation was the first to be commissioned.
Constellation was built at Harris Creek Shipyard in Baltimore's Fells Point and launched on 7 September 1797, just as the United States entered the Quasi-War with France.
On 9 February 1799, under the command of Captain Thomas Truxtun, Constellation fought and captured the frigate L'Insurgente of 36 guns, the fastest ship in the French Navy — the first major victory by an American-designed and -built warship.
Other victories followed. In February 1800 Constellation fought a night encounter with the frigate La Vengeance of 54 guns. Constellation was victorious after a five-hour battle. The French commander just managed to save his ship from capture and -upon returning to port- was so humiliated he later boasted that the American ship he had fought was a much larger and more powerful ship of the line. Since the encounter, the Constellations' incredible speed and power inspired the French to nickname her the "Yankee Racehorse."
Constellation served in the Barbary Wars against Tripoli and in the War of 1812 against Great Britain. In 1840, Constellation completed a voyage around the world, which included becoming the first U.S. warship to enter the inland waters of China.
In 1853 Constellation was struck and broken up at the Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk, Virginia.
Dimensions: 38"(long) x 34"(tall) x 12"(wide)
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