USS Constitution to mark 9/11 attacks
BOSTON — USS Constitution, known by her crew as “Old Ironsides” will commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks with canon fire and solemn music.
Navy crews with USS Constitution on Tuesday will fire one-gun salutes to mark when airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon near Washington, and a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
Taps will also be played at the times when the two World Trade Center towers and part of the Pentagon collapsed as well as when United Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.
The attacks killed nearly 3,000 lives and injured more than 6,000 others.
The world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat was launched in 1797 and earned its nickname “Old Ironsides” when the Navy frigate defeated the British frigate Guerrière in a furious engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia.
Witnesses claimed that the British shot merely bounced off Constitution‘s sides, as if the ship were made of iron.
Its current crew members are all active duty sailors.
Category: Historical, Navy, Terror War
What an honor it must be to serve on the USS Constitution! To walk those decks, a direct connection to the beginnings of this great country.
And thanks to Oliver Wendell Holmes for helping to keep her from being broken up later on when she had outlived her purpose.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46547/old-ironsides
Ahhhh! Back when real poets wrote POETRY; not this drivel social-political free-verse tripe that “they” to pass off as poetry.
Thanks for the link!
I walked her decks back in 1972, and she is an amazing piece of our history. It is hard to believe men lived on her 24/7 for weeks at a time. The onboard accommodations for the crew were Spartan, indeed.
Yep. Imagine getting to have that in your personnel jacket as a duty station and wearing the ballcap with USS Constitution embroidered on it. I toured her with my nephew back in 2016, after walking over from Bunker Hill. We caught the water taxi from there to Boston Harbor and there were some Canadian sailors from one of their frigates (HMCS Montreal, I think) that was paying a port call. Spent the ride over chatting with those fellas.
I still have a coin that was struck from brass on the ship, have had it for years!
I have no problem with memorializing the victims of 9/11, but timing salutes and taps to the instance of each attack seems more of an honor to the terrorists than the victims.
That certainly isn’t the way it’s intended. A gun salute is a traditional naval military honor. Pretty sure you get the significance of Taps.
It’s no different than a rifle salute and Taps at a funeral, just with a bigger boom.
*grin*
I got the intent and don’t have a problem with that. I just think the timing is rather odd.
Fair enough.
Cool ship. Toured her as a kid on a school trip. One kid got caught trying to carve his initials in a hand rail.
I hope he was keelhauled.
Naw, just a few strokes from the cat.
Good. Glad to know they will do this.
Sad that they did not KEEP flogging lol…I could nominate several 😉
I showed a photo of her to relatives here in Slovakia and they marveled at her age, history and active status.
Things that make me proud…. she is OURS.
Did you know that the ship from 85-90% of the ship is not original, that it’s pretty much always stationary, and that when it’s not, it’s usually towed from one place to another? She did set sail under own power in 1997—for the first time 116 years. The crew isn’t anything akin to the over 450 Sailors and Marines that were on board her in her fighting days. Today, the crew consists of three officers and 85 males, females, and others to greet paying visitors. Probably none of the crew can actually sail the ship. The gov’t has contractors for that. Sssshhhhhh.
In WWI the Germans wanted to outfit a schooner as a raider. The Seeadler (Sea Eagle) became one of the most successful raiders of the war. They had a hell of a time finding an officer who knew how to sail her, as by then navies had all gone to steel and powered ships.
The Coast Guard uses a German WW2 sailing ship as training vessel these days. Got to do a tour of it when they stopped at Ingleside, TX, when the tall ships came through here several years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Eagle_(WIX-327)
That I always found interesting. The Maritime Colleges all upgraded to steam/motor vessels at the earliest possible convenience and the USCGA still uses the barque Eagle.
It’s certainly a beautiful vessel but I always imagined them getting more relevant training on a decommissioned cutter.
Did you know that many of her brass fitting were made by Paul Revere?
I’m really “revered”by Revere making the brass fittings HMCS.
Damn, Cav. Someone piss in your cheerios this morning? Wood rots and needs replaced by shipwright artisans. No harm, no foul.
Check out the pic- yes, those are people manning the yard arms and bowsprit. NAVOSH heads are probably exploding over that.
Of course the Navy is going to treat USS Constitution with kid gloves, it’s a national treasure. There is no Navy PQS for manning and maintaining a three masted frigate, much less commanding one.
Lighten up, Francis.
The term Belay that comes from those belaying pins you see on the railings with ropes attached to them coming off the rigging. A little trivia added in. When watching those old black & white pirate movies, those are the pins used to bop a prospective person over the head to be shanghaid
Psssst….you are all friggin’ LEGS in the 101st Airborne Division !
Lighten up Francis.
Mike
101st Pathfinder Co. [85-88 or so]
During her service life the USS Constitution would have had most of her timbers changed for new. Wood rots.
Uh. That’s not true. And even weirder you seem to delight in pushing those ideas. The material of the ship HAS TO BE REPLACED on an ongoing basis. “Non-original” material was added in her first yard period after launching and has been continuous ever since. That’s called “maintenance.”
And while her crew is undermanned for sailing currently, her officers are absolutely qualified to sail her and plan on doing so. And “contractors” won’t have a say in it.
Check your facts before you pop-off and smear people.
Good stuff, and an honor for the swabbies on the Ship. We must never forget what happened on this day. My idea of honoring the folks that died is to set fire to a terrorist for each victim of this attack. They want to meet allah at the snack bar? Lets help them out. All of us knew or know of some one who has either died in the original attacks, or has been deployed, killed, or wounded in the war(s) since. I really hope that in years to come these services don’t become like Pearl Harbor Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, ect… be used as an excuse for a 3 day holiday weekend and mattress sale.
“Oldest Commissioned warship still afloat”
As opposed to the world’s oldest commissioned warship- HMS Victory (240years)?
I’m amazed some “social justice warrior” hasn’t demanded USS Constitution’s destruction due to her role of protecting US slave ships.
Don’t give those clowns any ideas
Shhhh some moron will think that a good idea! 😉