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----- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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] ***************