USS Constellation (1797)
USS Constellation by John W. Schmidt | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | USS Constellation |
| Namesake | The 15 stars in the contemporary United States national flag |
| Ordered | 27 March 1794 |
| Builder | David Stodder |
| Cost | $314,212 |
| Launched | 7 September 1797 |
| Homeport | Baltimore Maryland USA |
| Nickname(s) | "Yankee Racehorse" |
| Fate | Broken up, 1853 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | 38-Gun frigate |
| Displacement | 1,265 tons |
| Length | 164 ft (50 m) between perpendiculars length at Keel 136 feet |
| Beam | 41 ft (12 m) or 40 feet, 6 inches |
| Depth of hold | 13.5 ft (4.1 m) |
| Decks | Orlop, Berth, Gun, Spar |
| Propulsion | Sail (three masts, ship rig) |
| Complement | 340 officers and enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USS Constellation was a nominally rated 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate of the United States Navy.
The ship was built under the direction of David Stodder at The Joseph and Samuel Sterett shipyard on Harris Creek in Baltimore's Fell's Point maritime community, and was launched on 7 September 1797. Constellation was one of the original six frigates whose construction the Naval Act of 1794 had authorized.
The name "Constellation" was among ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering in March 1795 for the frigates that were to be constructed. The Flag Act of 1777 speaks of how the stars in the flag are "representing a new constellation".
Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young Navy's capital ships, and so Constellation and her sisters were larger and more heavily armed and built than standard frigates of the period. The Constellation's first duties with the newly formed U.S. Navy were to provide protection for American merchant shipping during the Quasi-War with France and to defeat the Barbary pirates in the First Barbary War.