Yesterday the USS Constitution has announced on its Facebook page that she is now the only ship in the U.S. Navy to sink an enemy vessel in action. Adding: “The USS Simpson, the only other ship to share that title, was decommissioned after 30 years of service. Fair winds and following seas.” To avoid confusion, she is currently the only commissioned US Navy ship to sink an enemy ship.
The USS Constitution, a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate – nicknamed “Old Ironsides” – is also the oldest commissioned ship afloat in the US Navy. She was named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America and was launched in 1797.
In May 2015 the Constitution entered Charlestown Navy Yard’s Dry Dock One for restoration. The restoration work is estimated to last through fall of 2017, at which time she will be re-floated and returned to her regular pier in the Charlestown Navy Yard.
USS Constitution fires a 17-gun salute near U.S. Coast Guard Base Boston during the ship’s Independence Day underway demonstration in Boston Harbor. (Credits: US Navy / Seaman Matthew R. Fairchild)
