Sailing the way it used to be

[Commodore Swab]

http://www.ussbatonrouge.com/connie.htm

The following tale is from the history of the oldest commissioned warship in the world, the USS Constitution. It comes by way of the National Park Service, as printed in "Oceanographic Ships, Fore and Aft", a periodical from the oceanographer of the US Navy.

On 23 August 1779, the USS Constitution set sail from Boston, loaded with 475 officers and men, 48,600 gallons of water, 74,000 cannon shot, 11,500 pounds of black powder and 79,400 gallons of rum. Her mission: to destroy and harass English shipping.

On 6 October, she made Jamaica, took on 826 pounds of flour and 68,300 gallons of rum. Three weeks later, Constitution reached the Azores, where she provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 2,300 gallons of Portuguese wine.

On 18 November, she set sail for England where her crew captured and scuttled 12 English merchant vessels and took aboard their rum. By this time, Constitution had run out of shot. Nevertheless, she made her way unarmed up the Firth of Clyde for a night raid. Here, her landing party captured a whiskey distillery, transferred 13,000 gallons aboard and headed for home.

On 20 February 1780, the Constitution arrived in Boston with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, no rum and no whiskey. She did, however, still carry her crew of 475 officers and men and 18,600 gallons of water.

The math is quite enlightening.

Length of cruise: 181 days

Booze consumption: 1.26 gallons per man per day (this does NOT include the unknown quantify of rum captured from the 12 English merchant vessels in November)

Naval historians say that the re-enlistment rate from this cruise was 92%.

[Graydog]

Fascinating, since the USS Constitution was launched in 1797.

This is an old urban legend that sadly that website has reposted.

Here's the history:

USS Constitution History

And here's why the legend exists, the first use is in a speech by the Secretary of the Navy as an opening joke in a speech BUT then he claimed it was true at the end of the joke! A misspeak by a politician, said it was true for comedic effect, or did he get excited and belive his own joke? The speech can be found on the US Navy Website.

Sec Navy Dalton's Speech 1998 (Wow, can't trust a politician to get history right who would have guessed?)

However, looking at another of his speeches one quickly sees how he uses old history jokes to open and support his speech. Here's another one that is also a current urban legend that has evolved from battleship to aircraft carrier task force:

Battleship vs. Lighthouse 1998 Speech

Here's the text for that link:

In the 1950s, a battleship captain operating in a dense

fog sent the following message to a dim light seen in the

distance. “Please alter course;” to which the response was

“Unable. You will need to change course.” The Captain,

somewhat agitated, sent a second message: “I am the captain of

a United States Navy battleship, and I demand that you change

course.” The response came back: “I am a petty officer, in

charge of a light house.” Guess who changed course!

Edited May 12, 2009 by Graydog

[Commodore Swab]

As I said, a good tale

[Bright]

Fascinating, since the USS Constitution was launched in 1797.

This is an old urban legend that sadly that website has reposted.

Here's the history:

USS Constitution History

And here's why the legend exists, the first use is in a speech by the Secretary of the Navy as an opening joke in a speech BUT then he claimed it was true at the end of the joke! A misspeak by a politician, said it was true for comedic effect, or did he get excited and belive his own joke? The speech can be found on the US Navy Website.

Sec Navy Dalton's Speech 1998 (Wow, can't trust a politician to get history right who would have guessed?)

However, looking at another of his speeches one quickly sees how he uses old history jokes to open and support his speech. Here's another one that is also a current urban legend that has evolved from battleship to aircraft carrier task force:

Battleship vs. Lighthouse 1998 Speech

Here's the text for that link:

In the 1950s, a battleship captain operating in a dense

fog sent the following message to a dim light seen in the

distance. “Please alter course;” to which the response was

“Unable. You will need to change course.” The Captain,

somewhat agitated, sent a second message: “I am the captain of

a United States Navy battleship, and I demand that you change

course.” The response came back: “I am a petty officer, in

charge of a light house.” Guess who changed course!

Udate modern version http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=58993499