Ironsides The Ship The Men And The Wars Of The Uss Constitution

The Story of America's Finest Ship As Told by Three of Her Finest Historians On October 21st 1797, the 44-gun frigate Constitution slid down the ramp at Hartt's shipyard and into the chilly waters of Boston Harbor. While the workmen were proud of their efforts, no one-but NO one-thought she would still be serving her country 210 years later. Yet the Constitution remains afloat, having survived three wars, service on numerous distant stations, duty as a receiving ship, extended periods of neglect and decay, and occasional brushes with the breaker's yard. She has survived all those tribulations to become the oldest commissioned ship still afloat in the world, and a symbol of the heritage and pride our country. Her story is told in a series of 34 short essays by three of the country's leading experts on the USS Constitution's history: Charles E. Brodine, Jr., Michael J. Crawford and Christine F. Hughes of the Naval Historical Center in Washington, DC. Originally published as: Old Ironsides: An Illustrated Guide to USS Constitution, it is brought to a much wider audience in this Fireship Press edition

This is the story of the oldest warship afloat in the world, the venerable frigate USS Constitution, the cornerstone of the nascent American navy created by act of Congress in 1794. Colonel David Fitz-Enz re-creates the world of sail, when seven knots an hour was considered blinding speed for a warship. In Old Ironsides, Fitz-Enz tells the story of the ship, from its construction to the ongoing restoration efforts that keep it active today.

The award-winning history of the USS Constitution by one of her former captains.

The captain of the USS Constitution during the US bicentennial augments his 1980 history of the country's most famous sailing ship with the fruits of additional research just in time for the ship's own bicentennial in 1997. He confirms that the diagonal riders were in the ship from the first, provides details and diagrams of battles the ship has taken part in, and includes a glossary without pronunciation. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The history of the USS Constitution.

SIX WHO DARED outlines the lives of six of the most daring, most outrageous, most endearing soldiers of fortune in history. William Walker: If comfortable careers in law, medicine and the church bore you, perhaps you should consider invading various countries with a handful of men until you can eventually become president of one? Ronald Douglas: Born into wealth, married into even more, Douglas died broke-and as a hero in eighteen countries. James Hardin-Hickey: When you come across an uninhabited island in the Atlantic, why not declare it a kingdom and yourself as it's king-at least until England decides she wants the place. Winston Churchill: What better way for a young man to see action than to become a war correspondent, serve in numerous campaigns, get captured, and stage one of the most daring escapes in history? Philo McGiffin: When you graduate near the bottom of your class at the U.S. Naval Academy and your own country won't even give you a commission, what else is there to do but command a squadron of Chinese battleships and become commandant of their naval academy? Frederick Burnham: Just your basic story of how a city boy from Pasadena, CA grows up to be the the finest scout in Africa, and have more hair-raising adventures than Indiana Jones. "A powerful and original writer." Theodore Roosevelt

The Constitution was one of the US Navy's first six original frigates, ordered as a counter to the Barbary corsairs in the Mediterranean. Fast and heavily built, she was nominally rated as a 44 but mounted thirty 24-pdr and twenty-two 12-pdr cannon. Her most famous encounter, after which she became nicknamed 'Old Ironsides' due to British shot being seen bouncing off her hull, involved HMS Guerriere, which she smashed; the same treatment was meted out to HMS Java four months later. Now the oldest commissioned warship afloat in thw world, she is berthed in Boston Harbor. The 'Anatomy of the Ship' series aims to provide the finest documentation of individual ships and ship types ever published. What makes the series unique is a complete set of superbly executed line drawings, both the conventional type of plan as well as explanatory views, with fully descriptive keys. These are supported by technical details and a record of the ship's service history.