ussconstellation

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In 1854, the U.S. Sloop of War CONSTELLATION was launched from Gosport. With similar dimensions to her famous predecessor, she carried 22 guns, had a crew compliment of 240 men, and displaced 1,400 tons with a beam of 42 feet and length of 176 feet.

The new ship's first assignment was interdicting the slave trade off the coast of Africa. She captured two slavers and released the imprisoned slaves. At the outbreak of the Civil War, CONSTELLATION made the first Union Navy capture, overpowering the slaver brig TRITON in coastal waters off Africa.

After the war, CONSTELLATION saw various duties such as carrying famine relief stores to Ireland and carrying precious American works of art to the Paris Exposition of 1895.

In 1894, CONSTELLATION became a training ship for the Naval Training Center in Newport, R.I. In addition to being used extensively as a training ship for Naval Academy midshipmen, she also helped train more than 60,000 recruits during World War I.

Decommissioned in 1933, CONSTELLATION was re-commissioned as a national symbol on August 24, 1940 by President Franklin Roosevelt. Shortly after the country's entry into World War II, she became the flagship for Admiral Ernest J. King and Admiral Royal Ingersoll.

The treasured warship was decommissioned in February 1955 and was taken "home" to her permanent berth in Baltimore Harbor. Now a National Historic Landmark, she is the last existing Civil War era naval vessel and the last sail-powered warship built by the U.S. Navy.
www.ussconstellation.org/constellation_history.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_%281854%29 Currently moored in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. "In 1994 Constellation was condemned as an unsafe vessel. She was towed to a drydock at Fort McHenry in 1996, and her $9 million restoration project was completed in July 1999. On 26 October 2004, Constellation made her first trip out of Baltimore's Inner Harbor since 1955. The trip to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis lasted six days, and it marked her first trip to Annapolis in 111 years."

NYT of May 25, 1915 query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=940DE2DB1338E633A... reported "NEWPORT, R.I., May 24. -- Through the assistance given by Captain Roger Welles, commanding officer of the Naval Training Station, a public welcome will be held tomorrow noon on the return to the station of the historic corvette Constellation from Norfolk. Mayor Robert S. Burlingame will preside, and Captain Welles will read a history of the ship. "

She was the last sail only warship designed and built by the U.S. navy and is still afloat as a museum ship in Baltimore, Maryland. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_(1854) Interesting part of the Wikipedia article is: After returning to New York, she was modified to carry a large cargo of food and other supplies to Ireland for the relief effort for the 1879 Irish famine. To accommodate as much food as possible, some of the ship's guns were removed, along with some of her ballast. She was able to carry more than 2,500 barrels of flour and potatoes. She left the United States in March 1880 and arrived in Queenstown (now Cobh), Ireland on 20 April, where she sent the food ashore, took on ballast, and returned to the United States, arriving in June.

28 April 1880 was a Wednesday ...

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Some nice engravings here which lead me to believe the moody looking chap front and center is Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg, also the Duke of Edinburgh. Would Captain Potter be the happy chappy to the left with the sword? www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn/explor...

Read All About It! Via Trove ... " ... The American frigate Constellation, with supplies for the suffering Irish, arrived at Queenstown on the 20th ult. Her cargo was distributed at different stations on the south and west coast of Ireland by British gunboats. The Duke of Edinburgh visited the vessel on the 25th. Addresses were presented to the captain and officers by the Cork branch of the Land League, the people of Queenstown, and by the Nationalists. Captain Potter refused to receive the address of the people of Queenstown until the political passages were expunged. His wishes were complied with. He received the address of the Nationalists, with the name of Doran at the head of the list of signers, on the assurance that it contained nothing of a political nature, but it concluded with the words, "God save Ireland." Captain Potter, on reading it, was taken by surprise, and curtly replied, "Thank you," which disappointed the deputation. After some opposition, in consequence of the famine-stricken condition of Ireland, the citizens of Queenstown decided to give a banquet to the officers of the frigate. The Cork Yacht Club gave a luncheon to the Duke of Edinburgh on the 26th, at which Captain Potter was present. The officers of the frigate were also honoured on their visit to Dublin; an arch of flags, in which the stars and stripes predominated, was thrown across the street in front of the Mansion-House. Captain Potter was presented with the freedom of the city. ..." From - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/160133841?searchTerm=c...