Dear Friends and Fellow Historians,

I am responding specifically to the 1 Nov post by Bill Trout (below)
that reads "According to Alan Flanders' book JOHN L. PORTER, NAVAL
CONSTRUCTOR OF DESTINY, John Porter rebuilt the ailing USS CONSTELLATION
in 1853-54. If this is correct then the CONSTELLATION is the original
one, but something like the original hatchet which had the handle and
head replaced several times."

There have been four ships named CONSTELLATION by the US Navy, three of
them completed and launched, all of which were "original": a frigate, a
sloop-of-war, and an aircraft carrier. 

I am the former historian/ curator of the historic sloop-of-war USS
CONSTELLATION, responsible for most of the interpretive exhibits when
she reopened to the public in 1999, and author of the book "USS
CONSTELLATION: A Short History of the Last All-Sail Warship Built by the
US Navy" (Donning, 2000).  Based on my own research, and that of others,
primarily Dana Wegner of the David Taylor Research Laboratory, and
related in his book "Fouled Anchors: the CONSTELLATION Question
Answered," the extant USS CONSTELLATION in Baltimore is original as a
newly constructed vessel in 1854.  She was built at the Gosport Navy
Yard in Portsmouth, VA, in 1853-54 under the supervision of Naval
Constructor John Lenthal.  Porter was not elevated to the position of
Constructor until after CONSTELLATION was launched, although he worked
under Lenthal's supervision prior.  

I was also a docent aboard the vessel when I was a high school student
in the late 60s - early 70s when many of us believed she was the frigate
built according to the Joshua Humphreys design in Baltimore by David
Stoddard, and launched in 1797.  I am intimately familiar with both
interpretations, but as a trained historian, I see the faults in the
"original frigate" version.  

The second US warship to be named CONSTELLATION was built under the
"Gradual Increase and Repair Fund" established by Congress following the
War of 1812, and renewed periodically thereafter.  It appropriated money
for the stockpiling of pre-cut members and planking for the repair of
existing vessels, or construction of new ones to increase the size of
the fleet in a national emergency.  Eventually, Congress allowed the
Navy to build "substitutes" for aging vessels that were not economically
repairable, using the stockpiled members and planks, as long as they
were of similar construction, without a separate appropriation.  New
classes of vessels, primarily steam-powered or sail with auxiliary
steam-power, needed an appropriation.  

A naval survey determined the frigate CONSTELLATION to be un-repairable.
and Lenthal drew the plans for a second vessel to be her substitute.  

In addition to following the "paper trail" of Navy documents concerning
the project, e.g., issuing pre-cut members, disposal of the "salvage,"
payroll of construction and demolition workers, etc., there are
surviving contemporary newspapers with articles describing how the
frigate was "broken up," or scrapped in modern terminology, at Gosport,
while 150 yards away in Ship House B, the keel of a new CONSTELLATION
was being laid for her "substitute."  Classed as a "sloop-of-war" (or
"corvette"), she was larger than any other vessel in that class (and
larger than the frigate of the same name, by the way), so she was manned
and equipped under the table of allowances for a "razee frigate."
Furthermore, the name CONSTELLATION was never stricken from the Navy
list of ships during the process.  

This combination - built with "repair parts" under the "repair fund"
without a Congressional appropriation for new construction, the name
never struck from the list, and assigned crew and equipment allowed for
a "razee frigate" - combined to set the stage for the confusion.   

Best regards,

Glenn
  
Glenn F. Williams
Senior Historian
Army Commemoration Office
US Army Center of Military History
103 Third Ave, Bldg. 35
Fort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058
Voice: 202-685-4117  FAX: 202-685-2081
e-mail: [log in to unmask] 

"The Fate of Unborn Millions Now Depends, 
  Under God, on the Courage and Conduct of the Army"
  -  George Washington, August 1776

-----Original Message-----


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Date:    Thu, 1 Nov 2007 08:26:50 -0400
From:    Bill Trout <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: Remember the Reuben James

According to Alan Flanders' book JOHN L. PORTER, NAVAL CONSTRUCTOR OF
DESTINY,  John Porter rebuilt the ailing USS CONSTELLATION in 1853-54.
If this is correct then the CONSTELLATION is the original one, but
something like the original hatchet which had the handle and head
replaced several times. 

Porter went on to co-design the CSS VIRGINIA (formerly the MERRIMAC) and
other Confederate gunboats. After the War he built the MOUNTAIN LILY,
so-called "The Highest Steamboat in the World," on the French Broad
River in North Carolina. If anyone knows of other ships built by Porter
after the War, we'd like to know!

Bill Trout
[log in to unmask] 

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