The SS Constellation is a Sloop-of-War ... She was built between 1853 and 1855 and was named for ... The Earlier Frigate Of the Same Name ... That had been broken up in 1853 ... The Current Ship's Name ... Is The Constellation ... She was Recommissioned in 1871 for use as a... Training Ship ... Which was ... used for shooting practice and training cruises for Midshipmen ... She Performed ... in a number of other activities, including transporting exhibits for the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris and carrying food to Ireland during the 1879 Irish Famine ... She Was Reduced to a Stationary Training Hulk in late 1893 ... She was moored in Newport for the next twenty years and she was presented during the centennial of the writing of ... The Star-Spangled Banner ... Which Is ... The National Anthem of the United States ... The Constellation was recommissioned in ...1940 as Part of the ... Build-Up in Anticipation of the United States' entry into ... World War II ... During this time she served as the port flagship of the commander of the ... Atlantic Fleet ...The Constellation is 181 feet Long At the waterline and 199 feet Long Overall. She has a Beam of 41 feet at the waterline, and is 43 feet across at her widest point. Her maximum Draft is 21 feet at a full load Displacement of 1,400 long tons ... The ship's crew numbered 21 officers and 265 enlisted men. The Constellation ... was armed with a battery of sixteen 8-inch shell-firing guns and four 32-pounder guns mounted on her Gun Deck in the Main Battery. On her Spar Deck, she carried a pair of Chase Guns; a 30-pounder and A Parrott Rifle were placed in the bow and a 20-pounder Parrott rifle was placed in the Stern ... She also carried three 12-Pounders ... The Constellation was commissioned on 28 July 1855, under the command of Captain Charles H. Bell ... She Immediately Departed for a Tour with the Mediterranean Squadron that lasted ... Three Years ... During this period, she stopped in Málaga, Spain into Protect American Nationals in the area during a period of civil unrest ... Later, She came to the aid of a ship in the Sea of Marmara. Here, the ship received an official thanks from the ... Emperor of Austria ... In April 17th 1858 ... she left the Mediterranean Squadron for a short patrol in the Caribbean Sea to protect ... American Shipping in the Region ... On June 5th she returned to the ... New York Navy Yard ... before proceeding to Boston ... where the ship was ... Decommissioned on August 13th ... In June 1855... She was recommissioned for service with the Africa Squadron ... Here she served as the Squadron Flagship, under the command of Captain Thomas Aloysius Dornin ... She Arrived at the Mouth of the Congo River on November 21st, Where She Began Operating as Part of the African Slave Trade Patrol ... These efforts were intended to ... End the Atlantic Slave Trade ... On December 29th ... The Constellation Captured the Brig ... Delicia ... She had no papers and was fitted to carry slaves in her Hold ... On September 26th 1860 ... The Constellation ... Captured the Barque Cora ... This ship had ... 705 Slaves Onboard ... They Were all Quickly Released in Monrovia, Liberia. ... The Navy Impounded the Cora and sold her at an Auction ... ... Action During The Civil War ... Helping to prevent Slavery ... A week after the Battle of Fort Sumter, which began ... During the American Civil War ... President Abraham Lincoln declared a Blockade of all Ports of the Confederacy on April 19th 1861. A month later ... On May 21st 1861 ... The Constellation ... Began Capturing Slave Ships off the Coast of Africa ... The crew captured 3 Slave Ships and freed 705 Africans ... Including 199 Women and children ...The US Constellation ended ... It's Tour off the Coast of Africa ... To Assist the Union During The Civil War ... ... In August ... The Navy ... Recalled The Constellation ... She arrived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on September 28th. She was dispatched to ... The Mediterranean on March 11th,1862 and Patrolled for Confederate Commerce Raiders Attempting to Attack Union Merchant Shipping ... Because Her Sails Provided Much Greater Endurance Than Steam-Powered Warships of the Day ... The Constellation ... arrived in the Mediterranean on April 19th Commanded by Captain Henry ...The Constellation ... Over the course of the following two years, patrolled the Mediterranean Seas ... She saw only a small amount of action apart from the blockading of the Commerce Raiders ... The CSS Sumter ... was laid Up in Gibraltar in need of repairs and refueling ... The Constellation ... also blocked the Confederate Navy from taking possession of the SS Southerner ... In Italy ... In May 1864, The Constellation departed the Mediterranean, bound for the West Indies ... The Captain ... reasoned that since his ship was known to be patrolling the ... Mediterranean ... and there were no other ... Similar Warships ... In The Navy that the Constellation would be able to surprise Confederate Cruisers and Blockade Runners ... On November 27th .... Admiral David Farragut recalled ... The Constellation while en route ... She Chased ... a Blockade Runner ... but was unable to catch her ... She reached Fort Monroe in Virginia on ... December 35th ... and found that ... Most of her crew, whose enlistments had ended, were discharged ... Without a crew to man the vessel ... The Constellation ... spent the remainder of the war as a receiving ship based in Norfolk ... She continued in this role Until 1869 ... On May 25th in 1871 ... The Constellation was ... Recommissioned for ... Midshipmen Training Cruises ... This was a duty she performed for the next ... 22 years ... In 1871 / 1872 ... she was ... Rearmed With ... Eight 9-Inch 230 mm - Dahlgren Guns, plus one -100 - pound Parrott Rifle and one 11-inch 280 mm Dahlgren gun, which would also allow Her to be Used as a Gunnery Training Ship. From March to July 1878 ... The Constellation was used to transfer exhibits to France for the Exposition Universelle in Paris ... On November 10th, 1879, she was sent to Gibraltar with a cargo of stores and a replacement crew for the ... Mediterranean Squadron flagship ... She was around the Azores on November 24th, during a week long storm, When ... She Spotted a Vessel in Distress ... The vessel was the ... Austro-Hungarian-flagged barque Olivo ... It was in Sinking Condition ... The Constellation ... rescued her crew ... The vessel was Scuttled ... by burning the vessel because it was a ... Hazard to navigation in her ... waterlogged Condition ... The Ensign in Charge of the boat was Awarded the ... 25 States Life Saving Services Gold Life Saving Medal and Medals from the Massachusetts Humane Society and the New York Life Saving Benevolent Association ... After returning to New York ... The Constellation ... was modified to carry a large cargos of food and other supplies to Ireland for the Relief Effort related to the ... 1879 Irish Famine ... To accommodate as much food as possible ... some of the ship's guns were removed, along with some of her Ballast ... She was able to carry more than 2,500 barrels of flour and potatoes ... She left the United States in March 1880 and arrived in ... Queenstown ... on April 20th ... Once there ... the food was sent ashore ... Took on Ballast ... and Returned to the United States ... She arrived in September 1892 ... The Constellation was ... Recommissioned for another unusual duty, to help assemble works of art in Gibraltar for the ... World's Columbian Exposition. During the cruise ... She made stops in Naples ... Italy ... Le Havre ... and ... France, before returning to ... New York in February 1893 ... Another training cruise to Gibraltar followed on June 3rd and ended on August 29th ... She was Then Transferred to Annapolis, where she was Decommissioned on September 2nd before being towed to Norfolk for repairs ... Once there ... She was ... converted into a stationary training ship ... She was moved to Newport on May 22nd in 1894 ... From there she remained largely in port for the next twenty years ... Apart from periodic trips for maintenance ... This included an Extensive repair in ... The New York Navy Yard in June 1904 ... In 1914 ... The Constellation ... took part in a celebration commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary of the writing of ... The Star-Spangled Banner ... The National Anthem of the United States ... The ... Acting Secretary of the Navy ... Franklin D. Roosevelt ... Ordered the Navy to Restore The Constellation To Her Appearance in 1814 ... As a Result ... Her Bridge Platform which had been installed in the 1880s, was removed ... along with a Deck House that had been erected in the 1890s. She was then towed to ... Baltimore ... where she has been on display from ... September 7th ... to October 29th when she was towed to Washington, DC ... She remained on display there from October 31st to ... December 4th ... Repairs in Norfolk followed later that month ... The Constellation Resumed Training Duties On ... May 19th 1915. ... Source ... Wikipedia ...
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