USS Constitution
In 1794, President George Washington authorized the construction of six frigates to protect American interests against pirates and the British and French navies.
Three years later the USS Constitution was launched as one of the six wooden-hull ships. More than two centuries later, with her 36 sails and 44 cannons, she stands as “the pride of our nation’s naval heritage”1 and as the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat today.
“Old Ironsides”
The USS Constitution earned her spot in history with an undefeated record of 33 captures and zero defeats. But her most famous battle occurred 700 miles off the Boston coast in the War of 1812. The battle started when the HMS Guerriere fired a broadside barrage at the Constitution. The cannonballs fell short. America’s sailors requested permission to return fire, but Captain Isaac Hull called for restraint. Though the cannons on the Constitution were capable of hitting their target from more than 1,000 yards away,2 Hull’s crew “unleashed a devastating broadside that shattered Guerriere’s mizzenmast and left her crippled”3 from only 12.5 fathoms (or 25 yards) away.4 The Brits returned fire, but the “Constitution’s thick hull, composed of white oak planking and live oak frames, proved resilient to enemy cannonballs. During the engagement, an American sailor was heard exclaiming, ‘Huzza! Her sides are made of iron! See where the shot fell out!’”5
The next morning, the Guerriere’s damage sealed her doom. The enemy sailors were transferred as prisoners of war to the Constitution, and the defeated ship’s cargo was plundered. The damage to the enemy vessel forced Captain Hull “to scuttle the ship by igniting the warship’s powder in the magazines,”6 providing the ship a proper burial.
Armed with a new nickname, “Old Ironsides,” the Constitution sailed for Boston. She had left Boston’s harbor on August 2, 1812, as the USS Constitution, but once she returned on August 30, she was forever known, from then on, as “Old Ironsides.”7
Salty Dog
“Huzza! Her sides are made of iron!”
In her long career, Old Ironsides did more than just sink enemy and pirate ships. From 1844 to1866, she sailed 52,370 miles around the world as a goodwill ambassador.8 This tour included her final quest in 1853. She captured the HN Gambrill, a ship trafficking enslaved people from Africa to Cuba. She went on to serve as a training ship at the US Naval Academy in Maryland from 1885 to 1881. At 133 years old, Old Ironsides sailed on a three-coast, 76-port American cruise in the 1930s.9
Leading Like Old Ironsides
Now harbored in Boston’s Charleston Naval Yard, the Constitution invites guests to walk her decks, not only to glean the wisdom of her faithful career but to appreciate the fortification of her iron-like wooden hull. In walking her decks, we celebrate the courage of the 400 sailors who protected our nation’s interests against regimes and against pirates who sought our doom, and we learn restraint from her captain, who saved the cannons for the most opportune moment. In walking her decks, we learn to imitate her interception when greed drove merchants to trade humans as if they were livestock, and we learn to adjust to less glorious roles when the sun has set on our expeditions and turned instead to the mundane yet essential training of the next generation.
We sojourn to the USS Constitution to learn the meaning of courage and creativity, of restraint and timing, of retooling and resurrection so that we may lead in such a time as this—so that we may lead like Old Ironsides.
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1 Charles Bahne, The Complete Guide to Boston’s Freedom Trail, 4th ed. (Newtowne Publishing, 2013), 63.
2 Dell Markey, “Names of the Guns on the USS Constitution,” Classroom, accessed December 19, 2025, https://classroom.synonym.com/civil-war-weapons-8028074.html.
3 “The HMS Guerriere Battle—This Day in History,” Amac, August 19, 2025, https://amac.us/newsline/lifestyle/the-hms-guerriere-battle-this-day-in-history/.
4 “The USS Constitution—“Old Ironsides,” 5 Minute History, accessed December 19, 2025, https://fiveminutehistory.com/the-uss-constitution-old-ironsides/#google_vignette.
5 “The HMS Guerriere Battle,” USS Constitution Museum, accessed November 19, 2025, https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/major-events/the-hms-guerriere-battle/.
6 USS Constitution Museum, “The HMS Guerriere Battle.”
7 USS Constitution Museum, “The HMS Guerriere Battle.”
8 “USS Constitution Chronology,” Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Constitution Museum, December 11, 2017, https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/ships/original-frigates/uss-constitution-americas-ship-of-state/background-for-media/chronology.html.
9 USS Constitution Museum, “USS Constitution Chronology.”