Old Ironsides Triumphs: USS Constitution Defies Britain

HMS Guerriere's masts toppled into the Atlantic like felled timber on August 19, 1812, as the American frigate USS Constitution pounded the British warship into wreckage off the coast of Nova Scotia. The battle lasted roughly 35 minutes. When a British cannonball bounced off Constitution's oak hull, an American sailor reportedly shouted, "Her sides are made of iron!" The nickname "Old Ironsides" stuck, and a young nation that had been terrified of the Royal Navy discovered that its ships could fight. The War of 1812 had begun two months earlier, and American fortunes on land were dismal. An invasion of Canada had stalled, and the U.S. Army was poorly trained and badly led. The Navy, with fewer than 20 warships against Britain's 600, was expected to be swept from the seas. Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, had narrowly escaped a British squadron just weeks earlier in a chase that lasted three days. When Hull spotted Guerriere sailing alone on the afternoon of August 19, he saw an opportunity to prove the American Navy's worth. Hull closed to within 25 yards before opening fire, a range so short that gunners could see the faces of the men they were killing. Constitution's advantage lay in her construction: she had been built with a double layer of live oak planking from Georgia, one of the densest woods in the world, over a frame of white oak reinforced with copper bolts from Paul Revere's foundry. Her 44 guns threw a heavier broadside than Guerriere's 38. The combination of superior firepower and near-impervious hull decided the contest quickly. Guerriere was so badly damaged that Hull ordered her burned rather than towed to port. Captain James Dacres of the Guerriere surrendered his sword, which Hull refused to accept. The victory electrified the American public at a moment when the war effort desperately needed good news. Congress awarded Hull a gold medal, and Constitution became a symbol of national pride that has been preserved ever since. She remains a commissioned warship in the United States Navy, the oldest still afloat, berthed at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston.