USS CONSTITUTION

Brad and I were able to go to the USS CONSTITUTION for a tour.  The Commanding Officer, Tim Cooper, was a department head with me on ANZIO.  It was good to get to catch up with him, but then he gave us the grand tour.  We went all over "Old Ironsides" from the bilges to the Captain's Cabin, to everywhere else.  Tim's shared his knowledge of this wonderful old ship and slice of history with us.  Here are some interesting things about her:
- the bilges were filled with rocks and gravel that would be shifted around to hold the cargo securely.  (The cargo mostly being food and water).
- there is one stove - a big open stove that would feed the 500 member crew.
- the crew would only get to sleep 4 hours a night in two watches, the rest were sailing the ship
- the hull is made of three layers - the outside and inside are horizontal layers of white oak, and the center layer is vertical layers of live oak, one of the hardest woods in the world.  For construction, they would take a template of the piece needed for the live oak and find a tree that met the shape.
- the architect added innovative diagonal risers inside the hull to keep her keel from hogging, a design he took from looking at how church domes were held up in Norway
- she fires her canon at 8:00 and sunset to hold colors twice a day  (I wish we still did this on all our ships!)
- the Captain's Cabin has two rooms, one on each side, that extend out on the sides of the ships.  On the seats in these rooms you can pick up the cushions and have access to personal commodes  (everyone else was using the head of the ship - known as "Seats of Ease"
- the surgeon would operate in a space that was a half deck, and about 4-1/2 to 5 feet in height (Brad was stooping good).  Most of the deck spaces had overheads about 5'8" tall, I know because I could walk under them without hitting my head...barely.

Some more modern facts: there are 70 Sailors that are assigned to CONSTITUTION, since she's still a commissioned ship in the Navy - the oldest commissioned ship in the world.  Half of those Sailors live in the barracks right there at the Navy Yard in Boston.  She's undergoing a three year refit that will finish sometime next year and is looking great!