The frigate U.S.S. Constitution at sea

Built at Boston in 1797, the 44-gun Constitution was one of the original group of six frigates ordered by Congress to form the basis of the new United States' Navy. Commissioned in July 1798, she played a minor role in the quasi-war with France before going on to distinguish herself in the Barbary Wars of 1803-04. Her celebrated capture of H.M.S. Guerriere on 19th August 1812, soon after the start of the Anglo-American War, earned her the enduring name of "Old Ironsides" and, surviving several attempts to scrap her later in the nineteenth century, she was ultimately preserved at Boston where she still resides.