When the United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812,

When the United States declared war on Great Britain in 1812,

in response to British impressment of American sailors on the high seas, the U.S.S. Constitution was one of only 17 warships in the U.S. Navy. By comparison, Great Britain had the most powerful and skilled navy in the world, with over 600 ships, eighty-five of which were operating in American waters at the time war was declared. It seemed to be an epic mismatch.

When the war commenced, the Constitution was under the command of Captain Isaac Hull. Hull sailed his ship north out of Annapolis, to protect American shipping into New York and to raid British merchant ships sailing to and from Canada. At 2 p.m. on August 19, 1812, the Constitution encountered the British Frigate Guerriere.

Even though the Constitution was larger and carried more guns than the Guerriere (56 to 44), the commander of the British vessel thought so little of American naval skills that upon spotting the Constitution he immediately decided to give battle. It was a decision he would soon regret.

The two warships closed range on each other, exchanging cannon fire. After seeing a British cannonball bounce harmlessly off the side of the Constitution, an American sailor exclaimed, “Huzzah! Her sides are made of iron!” Thus, the Constitution earned her famous nickname, “Old Ironsides.” 

When she had closed to within 25 yards of the Guerriere, the Constitution delivered a broadside volley that tore away the Guerriere’s mizzenmast. The crippled British vessel collided with the Constitution and the ships became entangled, but in such a way that the Constitution could deliver full broadsides into the Guerriere, which could only bring her forward guns to bear. Soon, with her masts all destroyed and a quarter of her crew killed or wounded, the Guerriere surrendered.

When news of the Constitution’s victory reached Boston, the American public was electrified. Coming on the heels of the disastrous loss of Detroit, the victory was a huge morale boost, without which President Madison likely would not have been reelected. Even though the battle had no significant military consequence, it was proof that an American warship could go one-on-one with a British warship and prevail. The fact that the Guerriere had been one of the most notorious vessels in kidnapping and impressing American sailors made her defeat especially satisfying. The Constitution would go on to defeat three more British warships before war’s end.

When a report appeared in a newspaper eighteen years later that the Navy intended to scrap the Constitution, a wave of indignation and protest swept across the nation. Within a few days Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. published his poem “Old Ironsides,” which was soon in nearly every newspaper in America. 

Aye tear her tattered ensign down

Long has it waved on high,

And many an eye has danced to see

That banner in the sky;

Beneath it rung the battle shout,

And burst the cannon's roar;—

The meteor of the ocean air

Shall sweep the clouds no more.

Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,

Where knelt the vanquished foe,

When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,

And waves were white below,

No more shall feel the victor's tread,

Or know the conquered knee;—

The harpies of the shore shall pluck

The eagle of the sea!

Oh, better that her shattered hulk

Should sink beneath the wave;

Her thunders shook the mighty deep,

And there should be her grave;

Nail to the mast her holy flag,

Set every threadbare sail,

And give her to the god of storms,

The lightning and the gale!

Any plans to scrap Old Ironsides were abandoned. 

To this day the U.S.S. Constitution remains a commissioned ship in United States Navy, making her the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat.

The U.S.S. Constitution, “Old Ironsides,” defeated H.M.S. Guerriere on August 19, 1812, two hundred twelve years ago today.

The painting is by Anton Otto Fischer.