the USS Constitution is going in for an overhaul.
Oct 25, 2014 15:28:51 GMT -5
Post by rah on Oct 25, 2014 15:28:51 GMT -5
BOSTON (Oct. 17, 2014) USS Constitution gets underway in Boston Harbor for the ship's 217th birthday cruise. This is Constitution's last scheduled cruise before entering dry dock in 2015 for three years of restoration work. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Victoria Kinney)
The USS constitution is going in for it's first overhaul since 1992. It is a laborious process carried out by masters of a dying craft. The woods that made the USS Constitution famous as "Old Iron Sides" are live oak and white oak. Live oak only grows in the southern US and is not commercially harvested because it is so rare and the trees take so long to mature. Live oak and white oak are both very tough and durable. They are the reason the sides of the ship were reported to repel British cannon balls and her masts were so tough to topple. They get their strength from very fine and uneven growth rings which helps prevent the wood from splitting easily down it's grain.
White oak is commercially available but only a few sources have the quality of this timber to meet the specifications for the ship.
Besides the live oak and white there other kinds of wood in the ship. The master ship builders that constructed her selected the very best domestic woods for each application.
And that leads to a little known piece of history. The simple fact is that by the war of 1812 the European Navies had stripped Europe of the best woods because over the centuries they had built and maintained large fleets. They did not replant or do forestry. This problem was particuarly acute for his Majesties Navy since that island nation had maintained the largest Navy (About 1,000 ships at the time of the War of 1812) in the world for nearly a century. So by the late 1700s the British were scavenging their colonies to find substitutes for the native types of lumber that had been denuded.
The US had no such problem with it's vast woodlands it was rich in the proper trees with high quality lumber and had learned what the best native types were for use in the ships.
The USS Constitution and her sister ships which were the first 6 frigates of the fledgling US Navy were masterpieces of naval engineering when completed. By the standards of the day they were super frigates being larger, faster, and more heavily armed than the frigates in other navies at the time. In fact during the War of 1812 the British Admiralty eventually issued an order that no British frigate would take on a US Super frigate in single combat. This order was the result of hard experience.
BTW you can buy ink pens made with the wood recovered from the Constitution during her refit.
The USS constitution is going in for it's first overhaul since 1992. It is a laborious process carried out by masters of a dying craft. The woods that made the USS Constitution famous as "Old Iron Sides" are live oak and white oak. Live oak only grows in the southern US and is not commercially harvested because it is so rare and the trees take so long to mature. Live oak and white oak are both very tough and durable. They are the reason the sides of the ship were reported to repel British cannon balls and her masts were so tough to topple. They get their strength from very fine and uneven growth rings which helps prevent the wood from splitting easily down it's grain.
White oak is commercially available but only a few sources have the quality of this timber to meet the specifications for the ship.
Besides the live oak and white there other kinds of wood in the ship. The master ship builders that constructed her selected the very best domestic woods for each application.
And that leads to a little known piece of history. The simple fact is that by the war of 1812 the European Navies had stripped Europe of the best woods because over the centuries they had built and maintained large fleets. They did not replant or do forestry. This problem was particuarly acute for his Majesties Navy since that island nation had maintained the largest Navy (About 1,000 ships at the time of the War of 1812) in the world for nearly a century. So by the late 1700s the British were scavenging their colonies to find substitutes for the native types of lumber that had been denuded.
The US had no such problem with it's vast woodlands it was rich in the proper trees with high quality lumber and had learned what the best native types were for use in the ships.
The USS Constitution and her sister ships which were the first 6 frigates of the fledgling US Navy were masterpieces of naval engineering when completed. By the standards of the day they were super frigates being larger, faster, and more heavily armed than the frigates in other navies at the time. In fact during the War of 1812 the British Admiralty eventually issued an order that no British frigate would take on a US Super frigate in single combat. This order was the result of hard experience.
BTW you can buy ink pens made with the wood recovered from the Constitution during her refit.