USS Constitution

USS Constitution is berthed at Pier 1 of the Charlestown Navy Yard, 1 Constitution Road, in Charlestown, Boston, Massachusetts. Launched on 21 October 1797 from Hartt's Shipyard in Boston, she was one of six frigates authorized by Congress to protect American merchant shipping. Her hull of live oak and her heavy construction gave the ship her power. In the War of 1812 she defeated HMS Guerriere in August 1812, when British cannonballs appeared to bounce off her sides, prompting the nickname Old Ironsides. She went on to defeat other British warships, including HMS Java. In later decades she served as a training ship, and by the 1830s a public campaign, aided by Oliver Wendell Holmes's poem Old Ironsides, prevented her from being scrapped. She has been restored several times, in 1925-30 through a national schoolchildren's fundraising drive and again in the 1990s and 2010s, with periodic dry-dock work and replacement of planking, and much of the original structure has been replaced over time. She is a commissioned United States Navy vessel, crewed by active-duty sailors who lead tours of the spar deck and the gun deck. Visitors can see the cannons, the officers' quarters and the berth deck. Nearby, the USS Constitution Museum, a separate nonprofit, tells her story in hands-on exhibits for families, including a fighting-sail reenactment of life aboard. The ship is occasionally taken out into Boston Harbor for turnaround cruises on special dates, an unusual tradition. Security screening is required to enter the Navy Yard, and visitors over 18 need photo identification. The ship follows seasonal opening hours and can close for ceremonies or maintenance. A visit takes about an hour for the ship and the museum together. It is the final stop on the Freedom Trail.