"World's Oldest Warship Moves to Drydock for Restoration" Topic

"The USS Constitution has been moved to dry dock for a major restoration project expected to take three years.

The world's oldest commissioned warship, still afloat on Monday night, moved into dry dock at the Charlestown Navy Yard historical park in Boston.

The project could cost the Navy as much as $15 USD million. It will include re-coppering the hull, replacing worn rigging and old planks and making general repairs to the stern, bow and captain's cabin…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Wasn't the Victory Older?

Amicalement
Armand

I think it's because it's still commissioned.

Victory is still in commission as well. But it is good to see the US Navy has set aside funds to keep Constitution in good repair. Both are beautiful ships!

Victory is the world oldest warship, Constitution is the oldest warship still afloat. Victory has been in drydock since 1922.

'Victory has been in drydock since 1922.'

But is still in commission and officially the Flagship of The First Sea Lord.

'Constitution is the oldest warship still afloat. '

No, it isn't:

'The USS Constitution has been moved to dry dock for a major restoration project expected to take three years.'

Another case of an article not getting it's facts right – except in this case Armand is on the ball with it.

Ok until a short time ago it was the oldest warship afloat and will be again when the repairs are done.

So now are you happy? Talk about looking for a reason to complain, sheesh.

Victory will never be afloat again.

All RN warships (wooden 18th and 19th century) would have be refitted every 3 to 5 years, I would have thought this would be the same for all the great naval powers.

Vasa is a bit older eh ;P well not oldest afloat, but it is the oldest warship one can visit.

'Talk about looking for a reason to complain, sheesh.'

Nope, just about sloppy journalism and getting the facts right.

I'd like to see it in dry dock, be interesting to see that :)

At least they didn't call her a battleship :)

Well, she IS a ship and she WAS intended to do battle…

The captains of the Java and Guerriere claimed she was a ship of the line. For the Cyane and Levant, well,….

Defintitely Victory is older.

Went to Boston – but it was just over a month after the September 11th attacks so she was closed to visitors. Bah!

the constitution is also kept in a state where it can be sailed under its own power also. it has a crew responsible for it also.

the victory is older and really impressive. but someone posted an article here recenty that talked about the state of disrepair its in also. its really sad actually because its basically due to poor restorations in the past. the original parts of the ship seem to be the more sturdy ones.

theres also the other english frigate that i forget the name of. a leda class i believe. its a museum now. i know that was mentioned on this site as well. its technically "afloat" but its in its own little dock thats sealed from the natural water and more in a controlled environment.

its understandable that everyone is prideful of their favorite ship. but its not really arguable that the constitution is the most capable of the old ships still around. and yes while in drydock it wont be "afloat" but its also a temporary drydock.

back in the day they would run ships aground to clean the hull, but the ship wasnt out of service or not afloat haha

saying a ship is afloat becomes semantics. afloat can literally mean floating in the water. but when they say a ship is afloat im pretty sure they mean its in operating serviceable condition.

its not shoddy journalism to say the constitution is afloat just beause its currently on its way to a temporary drydock

29 Jan 2015 4:33 a.m. PST
When I was on my Honeymoon in September 2009," New England in the fall".
We visited the USS Constitution, she was in "ordinary" and was being refitted for 2012.We had a wonderfull day on her and in the Museum.
When on the Constitution I ask a question about the 24pdrs on her, the guide was unable to but the officer of the watch informed me.
The question was, how come on all the 24pdrs aboard her why do they have a the royal cypher of King George III on them ?
I received a interesting reply, when they where looking to restore her in the 1920s to her 1812 condition there where no drawing and only limited information on her, so they asked if the British if had any information or any drawing that would help, they did.
After capturing the USS President (the sister to Constitution) the British made a full set of drawings,
So on the drawing it shows the 24pdrs with the RG III cypher on them, the Royal Navy had her re-gunned after being captured with there own guns.
So the USS Constitution had new iron guns cast with the GR III cypher on them.
The Officer of the watch informed me they where going to grind them off before 2012, to save embarrassment.

I wonder if it has happened ?

HMS Trincomalee is in Hartlepool restored and afloat, she is a 38 gun (46 with carronades) Leda class frigate launched in 1817.

'its not shoddy journalism to say the constitution is afloat just beause its currently on its way to a temporary drydock'

But it is shoddy journalism to say 'The world's oldest commissioned warship,' when it isn't. Whether it is afloat is not relevant according to the accuracy of the article, that was a point raised by the subsequent discussion.

Again it is the use of the world word to mean United states..

You know, like world series baseball..

I wasn't going to say that…

Though the World Series did have an actual good reason for it – it was named after a newspaper.

trincomalee is the ship i was thinking of. its floating at the dock but its sort of in a pool basically thats closed off to the water outside so that the hull of the ship stays presered.

everything i have seen in the news recently has referred to constitution as "the oldest commissioned warship still afloat", which is accurate. the article linked above is a blog. its written by "contributor", not even a name, which means there isnt any journalism involved there. the person obviously just read some news articles and posted this blog to the site.

basically i wouldnt get too bent out of shape over some guys blog being inaccurate haha

Actually it is shoddy punctuation:

The world's oldest commissioned warship, still afloat on Monday night, moved into dry dock at the Charlestown Navy Yard historical park in Boston.

The first comma is in the wrong place, move it and the sentence works. Should be; The world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat, moved into dry-dock, etc.

Well, she IS a ship and she WAS intended to do battle…

Actually NO. She was never intended to stand in a line of battle unlike Victory.

I had no idea the Victory was that old…40 years old at Trafalgar?

All RN warships (wooden 18th and 19th century) would have be refitted every 3 to 5 years, I would have thought this would be the same for all the great naval powers.

About that, yeah. And it's still true for modern warships, though the refit isn't as extensive for them.

I wish I hadn't hurt my back, I was going to request a re-enlistment onboard the Constitution with the Officer of the Watch in full 1800s dress uniform.

PSSSST! She's being refitted as a stealth intel ship for the South China Sea!

haha DeRuyter i was going to say the same thing about the comma

i dont think you have to be standing in the line of battle in order to do battle do you?

A battle ship is derived from a Ship of the Line of battle

It didn't usually include Frigates, they just didn't "Rate" which was interesting since when HMS WARRIOR was a frigate that made obsolete 1st Rate ships of the line.

All ship down to 20 guns where "Rated"

By the 19th century only 1rt, 2nd and 3rd class where rated as "ship of the line"

Victory 100+ guns 1st rate Constitution 44 guns 5th rate.

This rating system was a RN system to work out pay etc.
For example a carpenter was paid more on a 1st rate than one on a 2nd rate who was paid more than one on a 3rd rate and so on.

I think other navies would have had their own system, probably a very similar systems.

A Frigate a ship with 3 masts and 2 or more decks with only one gun deck.

The RN altered the rating system in 1817 to include cannonades, it change it's classifications 1856 and in 1876 abolished them.

Thanks Mac

Though she's now a hulk (without masts or rigging, at least when I last saw her) there's also – 'HMS UNICORN, of 46 guns, was built as a sailing frigate for the Royal Navy in Chatham dockyard and she was launched in 1824.

Unicorn is now preserved as a historic ship and visitor attraction in Dundee, Scotland. She is one of the six oldest ships in the world, is Scotland's only preserved warship and is the most completely original ship in the entire world to have survived from the golden age of sail.'

frigateunicorn.org

@Skippy: That's a possibility. Unlikely, but possible.

After all, the Constitution is almost invisible on radar.

So the USS Constitution had new iron guns cast with the GR III cypher on them.
The Officer of the watch informed me they where going to grind them off before 2012, to save embarrassment.

I wonder if it has happened ?

I visited the Constitution last year and one of my photos was taken on the lower gun deck. Although I can't make out the ciphers on the guns (because of the angle), there is definitely some type of cipher sitting proud on the top of the gun barrels. The photograph was taken in Sept.2014.

Here's an update I wasn't aware of:

"Beginning June 9, Constitution will reopen to the public and remain open throughout the restoration with tours scheduled:
* Tuesday through Friday from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m.
* Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. (closed Mondays).
Visitors will see something remarkable – an active shipyard with craftspeople including, blacksmiths, wood workers and others, working to make sure USS Constitution remains ship shape for future generations"

cool! maybe my trip to boston is back on haha

I live in Boston and have been aboard Constitution numerous times – a remarkable ship and a remarkable historical artifact. Even more impressive was seeing her under sail in Boston harbor. That was a special moment that says a great deal about the USN's commitment to keeping Constitution as a piece of living history.

One interesting aside: the drydock in which Constitution is undergoing her re-fit is nearly as old as she is and was re-furbished expressly to receive her.

B

The Unicorn in Dundee is a sister the Trincomalee in Hartlepool,

After being built in 1824 and no wars to fight she was towed to Dundee and put in to "ordinary" and became a powder store, she been there ever since.

When you are planning to build or maintain a ship it is important to manage your "Long Lead Time" materials so that you have what you need when it is time build or repair. For most large US Warships, the timeline for LLT materials is 10 years of less. That is not the case for USS Constitution, the Navy maintains groves of trees for this purpose. I like to make a point of visiting these when I travel. This is what I call planning ahead: link

thats really interesting to see how far ahead they plan and pick out trees. that article is from 2012 and i can imagine reading it back then and being so impatient to see how the repairs go haha! its almost better reading it now and not having to wait 3 years for them to start the work.