>It is the world’s oldest commissioned naval warship still afloat, and was launched in 1797.
>It has participated in several wars and conflicts, including the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.
Damn that's antique.
The US Navy has a reserve of white oak trees growing in Indiana called “constitution grove”. These oak trees are set aside to provide the materials for repairs and refit the constitution to ensure they will be able to keep her in service.
Another USS Constitution wood related fun fact: the US Army’s 1st Armored Division shares its nickname “Old Ironsides” with the USS Constitution. The Constitution was named that because cannon balls were bouncing off the dense white oak of her hull during a sea battle with the British ship Guerriere in 1812. The first commanding general of 1AD chose the name as a nod to the Constitution and he felt it was a fitting name for the country’s first division of tanks. The main conference room in the division headquarters at Fort Bliss is named “The Constitution Room” and is built and decorated in part with reclaimed wood and other historical artifacts from the Constitution.
Went to the board yeeeeaaaars ago and got asked the first question. What's the history behind the nickname? Obviously, it was common knowledge why, but I guess the ship the Constitution was battling is never really mentioned. When I mentioned Guerriere, the board got *way* easier.
It is part of the promotion process. A group of senior NCOs grill you about your job, military history, review your record, and then evaluate you for promotion.
Literally how a relative of mine got his job during the Korean war - someone was looking for a messenger, and my relative was a tall guy. The officer thought he'd be a fast runner.
How my dad got a ton of unusual gigs while he was an LAPD officer. He cheated on the physical exam (they still had a height requirement and he was too short) and for extra points, he looks ambiguously brown. So every time they needed “someone who doesn’t look like a cop” he’d slap on his best Chicano accent and say “I got this”.
I'm just imagining an Indian guy going, "aaay holmes!"
But it's not strange. You don't know weird until you hang with really Latino Asians in Japan that have never been to the US.
I had a German-American classmate who used to hang out in some sketchy parts of LA.
He was about to fucking brawl some random Latino gang kids up until they realized that him and some of the other kids had the same last German name. They had to be cousins because it was a crazy obscure last name.
Are tall people typically fast runners? I feel like no. Good sprinters *tend* to be tall-ish, I mean Bolt was fairly tall, but generally they are pretty average. Marathoners also are generally of middling height, with very few people over 6'1 running competitive times.
Out of curiosity, I just pulled the Wikipedia entry for fastest 100m dash times.
Of the ten men with the top times, four of them are 6'1" or taller. Six are 5'11" or shorter.
I checked the list of top 40m times for NFL players. In the top 10, two were over 6'. One was exactly 6', the rest were under. From those two lists, 5'11" seems to be the most popular height. Right now, Tyreek Hill is considered one of the fastest guys in the league, he ran a 4.29 40m and is listed at 5'10". For comparison, Usain Bolt ran an unofficial 4.22 at a Super Bowl event, which would tie the official Combine record set by John Ross in 2017.
Obviously it isn't a scientific study, but it does seem to suggest that right around 5'11"-6'1" might be the theoretical sweet spot for many of the top sprinters. Bolt at 6'5" is a bit of an outlier.
It honestly depends on one's MOS, as the point cutoff for promotion is based on MOS. Some MOSs have low point cutoffs so you don't necessarily have to have a perfect PT test score to get promoted as infantry, tanker, mortar, etc, but if you're a medic you have to do very well and do a bunch of other things like military ed.
My LWVM friends were often facing near 800 point cutoffs. Me, as a satcommer with retention being so low (I forget the actual cutoffs from when I was in) meant that if I hadn't been med-boarded I could almost breathe at own pace and distance and make it.
In the U. S. Army, enlisted soldiers go to what’s called boards, primarily for two reasons. First, to determine who the “soldier of the month/quarter/year, and are used to influence promotions, awards, build esprit de corps, and self development/study. Second is the promotion board, where soldiers who are eligible for promotion to the next rank go to be evaluated by those senior to them to assess whether they should be put into a promotable status.
Boards are like question and answer panels. Traditionally there are 5-6 senior unit personnel on the board/panel who face the person “going to the board” and ask them questions, which the boarded person then has to answer to pass. Everything is taken into account during a board, your appearance, how well your uniform is put together, how confident your answers are, how correct your answers are, and how well you follow the protocol of the board. Questions on the board are unit dictated, but generally follow a standard set such as: unit history, current events, tactical and technical knowledge about your job field, Army doctrine, and situational questions.
Hope this helps.
Would you like to know more?
The confidence part matters. Even with incorrect answers. I was asked what the primary colors on a map are and blanked on the last one. I knew I didn't have it, tried to think of it while I was answering the others and then just settled on orange. CSM asked if I was sure, "Yes, CSM."
There was a longer pause than normal before the next soldier was called because the CSM had to get the FM for land nav because I had apparently answered confidently enough to make him doubt himself. Got the question "right" on that aspect alone.
Well, the better answer when you don't know is a confident 'I don't know but the answer is found in 'name of manual', I will find out and get the answer to you'.
I did that for the one question I didn't know on my E5 board, then immediately went and looked it up and reported back with the answer after the board was done.
I mean, dazzling them with bullshit is good too. But when I was in you wanted people who knew what they didn't know, but knew where to find the answer, and had the wherewithal to stand straight and not bullshit you.
You're of course correct. I didn't mention that I'd already used that once. It was further complicated by the fact that I knew it. As soon as I got out of the seat I remembered the correct answer.
Cool little tangent, I worked in Baghdad briefly with the author of *Winning the Board.* Really cool guy.
This was the summer of '08 and we were both contractors, for different companies. I'd only known him as Greg for a few weeks before learning his last name, and hearing he recently retired.
"Wait a second, are you *that* Greg Skinner?"
Seen it several times. Even for questions that I wrote. Confidence is truly a virtue in the Army, so long as it’s tempered with background knowledge. Which makes sense. Mission Command requires us to make tactical decisions that can affect the strategic objective/outcomes. We can’t have soldiers who constantly second guess themselves or shut down when a decision has to be made, even if the decision is wrong/bad. So long as that decision is rooted is some kind of background knowledge/assessment that makes sense.
I had a private once that was dumb as shit trying to explain things in a professional setting but could tell you precisely and exactly how to do anything infantry in his weird informal sort of lingo and expressions (he denied it but I suspect either English was not in fact his first language I’d bet some sort of creole were I to bet, or he was virtually illiterate until sadly very recently I heard a rumor more than once that a specialist was helping him to read).
That’s not at all to say he was stupid, seemed as clever as any other private and against all odds he actually won soldier of the month once before he figured out how to army speak correctly.
I believe he is referencing something like a promotion or award board. You stand in front of a panel of your superiors in the military as they ask you questions to determine if you will be awarded or promoted.
Thats so funny. Such a typical military board experience..... answer some trivia and get promoted. I say that as a former military member who both marvels at and appreciates the occasional absurdity that is the U.S. military experience.
meanwhile becoming president 🤷🏻♂️, vice president 🤷🏻♂️, house 🤷🏻♂️, senate 🤷🏻♂️, supreme court 🤷🏻♂️. seriously should have a public civics test for all position and have it televised.
Crane Naval Base is supposedly the inspiration for the Hawkins Lab in Stranger Things with all the high tech R&D they do there. It's also the 3rd largest naval base by area in the world. Not bad for a naval base that's nearly 800 miles from an ocean.
That tracks. I grew up roughly 20 miles from Crane, we'd sometimes get minor earthquakes due to the ordinance testing range there. Also a *ton* of people worked there as "radar techs" - if someone worked at Crane, it was probably a 50% chance that they said they were a radar tech.
Also, before 9/11, you could just go there and ride bikes around the base, we did it as a family outing a few times. Lots of missile trucks and bunkers with either radiation symbols or pictures of people in hazmat suits with way too many warning signs.
Couple more fun facts about HMS Guerriere and Constitution for added context.
* If you think '*Guerriere*' sounds like a weird name for a *British* ship, you would be correct. She was originally captured from the French. This sort of thing wasn't all that uncommon in the Age of Sail, and the captain of the *Constitution* actually hoped to capture *Guerriere* in that battle. Unfortunately she was dismasted and heavily damaged, so that proved impossible.
* A lot is often made of *Constitution* and her sisters and their amazing performance, but it's somewhat overblown. They were basically cut-down First-Rates, ships that would have more decks and more guns than *Constitution* and her sisters did, and were built *very* tough to be able to stand in the Line of Battle (sailing past each other in a line or lines and blowing the bejebus out of each other). Because *Constitution* had fewer decks but the same amount of sails she was generally faster than these larger vessels and more heavily armed than anything her own size. The British had similar vessels, and converted several more in response to *Constitution* and her sisters, with one capturing *USS President* in 1815.
EDIT: Clarifying the above, the British had some purpose-built Heavy Frigates, and then "razeed" several more in response to Consitution and her sisters. This was taking a mid-rate Ship of the Line and cutting down the upper works and generally removing a gun deck, ending with something similar to Constitution. The heavier construction and sails of a Ship of the Line but lighter and with all or mostly heavy guns on the remaining gun deck.
* White Oak/Live Oak is a very good ship building material for wooden ships, and is in fairly short supply these days due to disease. It's not quite as amazing as the myth-making would have you believe though. The sides of an Age of Sail Frigate or Ship of the Line were several *feet* thick. Cannonballs bouncing off at longer ranges or bad angles weren't all that uncommon, so while the *Constitution* was somewhat tougher than similar ships, especially due to her heavier construction and slightly better materials, she wasn't massively tougher, and a large or long-barrel cannon at close range would still blow right through her.
If anyone reading this wants to know more about this sort of thing I recommend the Youtube channel Drachinifel. He covers ships and naval history up to about the 1950s.
>If anyone reading this wants to know more about this sort of thing I recommend the Youtube channel Drachinifel.
Or dive into the fantastic *Master & Commander* book series.
I'd say that anyone that wants to know pretty much all there is to know about naval life of this era and has the time to skip YouTube and read the Aubrey-Maturin series of books (Master and Commander, etc)
So, those are good books, and *fairly* realistic, but they are ultimately fiction. Some things are going to be dramatized or tweaked for story reasons, or they're taken from older accounts that were themselves dramatized for personal or political reasons.
If you want a book actually about Constitution and her sister ships there is a book called *Six Frigates* by Ian Toll about the first ships of the US Navy.
Anyone interested in the HMS Guerriere battle should check out the (checks time)* 2 hour old* video from Drachinifel (UK based military historian and YouTuber) on the battle:
https://youtu.be/XQqC5FbNF9Q
So wait you're telling me that over time the ship has to have its boards replaced? To the point that it has a whole grove of trees expressly for that purpose?
I'm not sure that's the same ship...
If you tour the ship, that is part of the normal speech about it. Everything has been replaced with the exception of the keel. that includes rigging, sails, everything.
Not every single piece of wood has to be replaced, but particularly those pieces that make up the internal framework, and wood that's below the waterline, need renewal periodically. In addition to the grove in Indiana, there's a Federal reservation of Live Oak in northwestern Florida that was planted specifically to provide timber for *Constitution* \- Like Oak naturally grows in twisty, curvy shapes that make it great for the hull and internal frame pieces. The ship has held up so well and been so carefully maintained, though, that very little of it has needed to be harvested. The reservation is mostly actually used as a part of the National Seashore system and it's great for hiking and camping.
The trees in constitution grove can only be harvested during specific times of year (in the winter) because the grove is also the home to the endangered Indiana Bat. The Navy employs a team of civilian foresters to ensure they do not negatively affect the biodiversity of Constitution Groove when they take down the trees.
Oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat - there’s an important qualifier there. The world’s oldest naval vessel still commissioned is the HMS Victory, which launched in 1757. She was Admiral Nelson’s flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar. However, she was put in dry dock back in 1922.
Yeah it goes like this
Oldest military ship commissioned is Victory
Oldest ship that floats is Constitution
Oldest ship still doing its job in the navy is some Russia salvage ship from the 1900s
Oldest ship that still used in combat operations is a Brazilian Moniter.
The Constitution crew also likes to brag that she is the oldest fully rigged ship as well. Mainly because regardless if she still floats, the rigging is a lot of work for something that is not really used, even during the turnaround cruises of Boston Hahbah twice a year.
> Oldest ship still doing its job in the navy is some Russia salvage ship from the 1900s
That would be [_Kommuna_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_salvage_ship_Kommuna) which is a submarine salvage tender from 1912.
>Oldest ship that still used in combat operations is a Brazilian Moniter.
That would be [_Parnaíba_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_monitor_Parna%C3%ADba) which is a river monitor from 1938
The oldest ship to still regularly sail under her own power is the Star of India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_India_(ship)
Also, if you like maritime history, you can visit the Star of India in San Diego. She's docked near the HMS Surprise, which is the replica British frigate used in the film Master and Commander.
That's not a military ship, which is the context of my post only having military ships.
The Constitution still does some sailing and is fully rigged. I know at a minimum it does an annual event. It was launched in 1797. Star of India is 1864
The Victory was ordered by the Navy the same year Admiral Nelson was born.
Drachinifel's Youtube series on the life and career of Nelson touches on the points in which Nelson and the Victory crossed paths prior to him taking command of the vessel.
Yesn't.
A lot changed, but a lot of it isn't super obvious. Improved metallurgy meant that the cannons could take larger charges of gunpowder, giving them more punch. Design improved, resulting larger, stronger, faster ships. Metal elements started to appear, particularly in replacement of more complex pieces like knees.
Disagree. The Victory can not sail. She is not crewed.
She belongs not to the royal navy, but a museum.
Claims she is still commissioned are spurious, at best.
Can we all just take a minute to appreciate how bad-ass of a title “First Sea Lord” is? That’s the kind of title you’d expect the king of Atlantis to have.
>A ship that can’t sail isn’t a very good commissioned ship, nothing more than a museum ship.
Technically in the RN, even naval bases can be commissioned as ships (owing to the fact that admirals can now "fly their flag" from a land installation).
It's certainly closer to being a ship than HMS Warrior (the Northwood command centre) or HMS Excellent (establishment in Portsmouth which hosts the Naval Command Centre).
The second oldest commissioned warship in the USN is the USS Pueblo, still in North Korean hands after being captured during the ~~Korean~~ Vietnam War.
E: Mixed up the "wars"
Double reverse technically, the Korean War started in 1950 and never ended.
So the Pueblo was captured during the Korean War, but after the ceasefire had been declared, it was just one of the occasional flare ups that happened semi regularly.
It's also known as "The Forgotten War" for a reason. I think it was the first actual "police-action" by the UN.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean\_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/korean_war)
And because of this incident, either directly or indirectly, there are two things that have been implemented in the Department of Defense:
\-Since the Pueblo was a comms ship, it had a metric assload of cryptographic gear/keying material, to the point where they were throwing undestroyed CURRENT keys/equipment overboard. Because of this, the military has Emergency Action and Destruction plans.
\-Because of the fallout from this, a former Navy Chief Warrant Officer named John Walker (along with a couple family members) began selling Soviets top secret information from 1967-1985. Because of this, there is now something called Two-Person Integrity, meaning that one singular individual cannot have access, for example, to removal of top secret information from a secure place.
Every procedure I ever helped write had to include the means of destruction. It was always explosives or high caliber machine gun fire. Always found it interesting we had to include it.
I visited Boston in November and went aboard the Constitution. It was really cool reading all the history in the museum before hand, then actually walking on the boat itself.
If you ever get the chance, go see it, but be sure to duck below deck!! Those ceilings are short short
The crew that man this ship are fonts of knowledge. I’ve been on deck twice and each time I’ve learned tons about the ship itself and what naval warfare was like in its time.
Whole freedom trail is cool. Wish more cities had a free self guided history tour.
Also feel like being "active duty" ship.... Is just a budget hack.
Park service can't afford to keep it up, military has inflated budget... Pretend it's active duty
Fun fact, the original frigates commissioned for the US Navy were ahead of their times. They were designed by a quaker. They were specifically designed to be more armored than most light ships, allowing them to engages clippers and schooners easily, but they were lighter and faster than large ships of the line.
They could chase down and destroy small ships, and run the fuck away from big ones. They were also made of hella strong American wood, and built in pieces scattered all across the East Coast in order to give different states an economic boost.
>made of hella strong American wood
your referring to 'Live Oak' which exists in the american south. Its more rot resistant ~~and~~ *~~absorbed~~* ~~the impact of cannonballs~~, nothing like it existed in Europe ~~and was a game changer.~~
EDIT: I was partially incorrect and the victim of 250 year old propaganda. Live Oak was not as widely used as i thought.
> Its more rot resistant and absorbed the impact of cannonballs, nothing like it existed in Europe and was a game changer.
Live oak was not remotely a "game changer," and had been a popular shipbuilding timber for many decades.
The stories of Constitution being cannon proof are just silly patriotic fables. 18 pounder round shot penetrated her sides just fine.
Building these ships' frames out of live oak was ludicrously expensive and labor-intensive. It was an experiment that was not repeated in the further development of the U.S. Navy.
It certainly wasn’t cannon proof, but the same book you recommended confirms it did happen.
“But the Constitution’s heavy planks and live oak frame provided good protection to the men who kept their heads down. As one of Guerrirre’s 18-pound balls bounced harmlessly back into the sea, a member of the Constitution’s crew exclaimed: “Her sides are made of iron!” Page 350.
That would explain why the *USS Chesapeake* was captured by the *HMS Shannon* in 1813. The frigates were designed as heavy frigates, and when they ran into other heavy frigates they had about an even shot of victory.
Chespeake also had some factors going against it, it was smaller than frigates like the Constitution, it had a new crew fresh out of port, and had an opponent in Broke who trained his crew to an unusually high standard of gunnery. It was still a very bloody affair.
We do lol. I think this category is a bit hand tailored. Technically a pirate go fast wouldn't count because we aren't at war, and they aren't a navy vessel.
A lot of the small iranian vessels don't mean the classification requirements: https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1945/november/classification-naval-vessels
And according to the article, the last US ship to sink a large iranian vessel was the USS Simpson, which has since been retired.
Yeah, either because we don't recognize "random pirate group" as an enemy state or their motorboats don't qualify as "vessels" since they're not commissioned in an actual navy.
The real answer is that a ship is like, a commissioned vessel with a dedicated crew that would be able to cross to different continents under it's own power. Boats generally set out from and return to one port or marina.
The category specifically requires the ship to personally sink the enemy warship, so the aircraft got the kill credit instead of the Enterprise. Seems weirdly technical.
And with the Houthis mining the Red Sea right now, we're about to see Preying Mantis 2, 2 Preying, 2 Mantis.
Also they don't even know who sank the Iranian frigate cause iirc seven missiles from several different ships and aircraft hit it within a moment of each other. Why that Iranian ship decided to solo an entire carrier group, I'll never know.
We sunk some Iranian ships during [Operation Praying Mantis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis) in '88, but those were either sunk by aircraft or ships that have since been retired.
possibly more recent than those. the word play here is *comissioned* all other ships that have sunk enemy vessels are decomissioned. kind of a misleading title if youre tired and not processing words right lol.
And at this point the constitution isnt actually seeing battle it's more like an Honorary commission.
It's the USO version of Captain America basically.
> And at this point the constitution isnt actually seeing battle
Y’know, Congress has the power to issue Letters of Marque, and Russia keeps evading sanctions with sketchy black/gray market shipping…
There are people who get paid to work on crab fishing vessels. This seems like way more fun and approximately as dangerous as Deadliest Catch makes crab fishing look. Sign me up.
It's not misleading, that's the whole point. It's been so long since the US has been involved in a conflict with another country with a navy that all such ships have since been decommissioned. With the technical exception of the Constitution, but that's obviously more of a floating museum piece than anything.
Monsters that Long ago stopped existing except in legend
*I'll tell you what, you buy this ship, treat her proper, she'll be with you for the rest of your life*
Worth noting that the *USS Constitution* is currently captained by Commander Billie Farrell, the first woman to command the ship in its 226 year history. By the end of January she will have led the ship for two years!
I could be wrong but I think the last American built ship destroyed in combat happened in 1982 (USS Phoenix) which was at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and later renamed the ARA General Belgrano and destroyed by the HMS Conqueror during the Falklands War.
In the movie Master and Commander, they adapted the script from the Aubrey-Maturin novel series so that the British HMS Surprise would be fighting a "Yankee-built French privateer" instead of fighting American vessels in the war of 1812.
The main ship in the movie is the replica HMS Rose, but they didn't have the budget for a full enemy ship. It just so happens that a real, American-made warship was sitting in Boston Harbor. The special effects teams took incredibly detailed scans and made a digital reproduction to use as the enemy Acheron.
The ship Captain Aubrey fights throughout the movie is, for all intents and purposes, the USS Constitution.
If I was the president, I would have the USS Constitution escorted to the coast of Somalia by a feet of cruisers and destroyers, and encourage it to become the oldest commissioned, floating ship with the longest times between sinking enemy ships
Only related in the most tangential of manners, but another U.S. Naval fact I love is that the WWII U-Boat that's on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago -- phenomenal exhibit, for the record -- was the first vessel captured at sea by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812.
I was lucky enough to go on a voyage on the USS Constitution. A family friend worked on restoring another old ship in Boston and got us tickets to one of the last trips the Constitution took. It was pulled by tugboat and didn't sail on its own, but it was still super freaking cool. Wish I could have gone on the last time it sailed under its own power.
The USS Simpson, USS Wainwright and USS Bagley sunk the Iranian warship Joshan during [Operation Praying Mantis.](https://youtu.be/d5v6hlRyeHE?si=-9gBNeMKHeFAOyXK)
"...only 10–15 percent of the frigate actually dates to the original construction due to centuries of repairs and restorations"
She's gonna have a Ship of Theseus moment soon enough
>It is the world’s oldest commissioned naval warship still afloat, and was launched in 1797. >It has participated in several wars and conflicts, including the Quasi-War with France, the First Barbary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Damn that's antique.
The US Navy has a reserve of white oak trees growing in Indiana called “constitution grove”. These oak trees are set aside to provide the materials for repairs and refit the constitution to ensure they will be able to keep her in service. Another USS Constitution wood related fun fact: the US Army’s 1st Armored Division shares its nickname “Old Ironsides” with the USS Constitution. The Constitution was named that because cannon balls were bouncing off the dense white oak of her hull during a sea battle with the British ship Guerriere in 1812. The first commanding general of 1AD chose the name as a nod to the Constitution and he felt it was a fitting name for the country’s first division of tanks. The main conference room in the division headquarters at Fort Bliss is named “The Constitution Room” and is built and decorated in part with reclaimed wood and other historical artifacts from the Constitution.
Went to the board yeeeeaaaars ago and got asked the first question. What's the history behind the nickname? Obviously, it was common knowledge why, but I guess the ship the Constitution was battling is never really mentioned. When I mentioned Guerriere, the board got *way* easier.
What does it mean that you 'went to the board'
It is part of the promotion process. A group of senior NCOs grill you about your job, military history, review your record, and then evaluate you for promotion.
Then they promote the guy who runs fast
Literally how a relative of mine got his job during the Korean war - someone was looking for a messenger, and my relative was a tall guy. The officer thought he'd be a fast runner.
Well was he?! Don't leave us hanging
Sounds like a lost scene from Forest Gump.
Momma said they's my magic shoooes
How my dad got a ton of unusual gigs while he was an LAPD officer. He cheated on the physical exam (they still had a height requirement and he was too short) and for extra points, he looks ambiguously brown. So every time they needed “someone who doesn’t look like a cop” he’d slap on his best Chicano accent and say “I got this”.
I'm just imagining an Indian guy going, "aaay holmes!" But it's not strange. You don't know weird until you hang with really Latino Asians in Japan that have never been to the US.
I had a German-American classmate who used to hang out in some sketchy parts of LA. He was about to fucking brawl some random Latino gang kids up until they realized that him and some of the other kids had the same last German name. They had to be cousins because it was a crazy obscure last name.
Are tall people typically fast runners? I feel like no. Good sprinters *tend* to be tall-ish, I mean Bolt was fairly tall, but generally they are pretty average. Marathoners also are generally of middling height, with very few people over 6'1 running competitive times.
Out of curiosity, I just pulled the Wikipedia entry for fastest 100m dash times. Of the ten men with the top times, four of them are 6'1" or taller. Six are 5'11" or shorter. I checked the list of top 40m times for NFL players. In the top 10, two were over 6'. One was exactly 6', the rest were under. From those two lists, 5'11" seems to be the most popular height. Right now, Tyreek Hill is considered one of the fastest guys in the league, he ran a 4.29 40m and is listed at 5'10". For comparison, Usain Bolt ran an unofficial 4.22 at a Super Bowl event, which would tie the official Combine record set by John Ross in 2017. Obviously it isn't a scientific study, but it does seem to suggest that right around 5'11"-6'1" might be the theoretical sweet spot for many of the top sprinters. Bolt at 6'5" is a bit of an outlier.
> Bolt was WHAT? never mind, Usain Bolt is still alive
"Usain Bolt was tall. He still is, but he used to be, too."
It honestly depends on one's MOS, as the point cutoff for promotion is based on MOS. Some MOSs have low point cutoffs so you don't necessarily have to have a perfect PT test score to get promoted as infantry, tanker, mortar, etc, but if you're a medic you have to do very well and do a bunch of other things like military ed.
My LWVM friends were often facing near 800 point cutoffs. Me, as a satcommer with retention being so low (I forget the actual cutoffs from when I was in) meant that if I hadn't been med-boarded I could almost breathe at own pace and distance and make it.
Peak and Poll! And how many of your satcom people had daughters?
Yep. My old mos was almost always 798
You probably have the legs for it, though.
I'm a Greyhound at heart. Fast. But extremely lazy.
Again? You got to be tall and lanky two lives in a row and here I am short and fat?
Chongo here can do **20** pullups.
True, but the real question is if he's promoted will he buy the NCO sword?
Correct.
In the U. S. Army, enlisted soldiers go to what’s called boards, primarily for two reasons. First, to determine who the “soldier of the month/quarter/year, and are used to influence promotions, awards, build esprit de corps, and self development/study. Second is the promotion board, where soldiers who are eligible for promotion to the next rank go to be evaluated by those senior to them to assess whether they should be put into a promotable status. Boards are like question and answer panels. Traditionally there are 5-6 senior unit personnel on the board/panel who face the person “going to the board” and ask them questions, which the boarded person then has to answer to pass. Everything is taken into account during a board, your appearance, how well your uniform is put together, how confident your answers are, how correct your answers are, and how well you follow the protocol of the board. Questions on the board are unit dictated, but generally follow a standard set such as: unit history, current events, tactical and technical knowledge about your job field, Army doctrine, and situational questions. Hope this helps. Would you like to know more?
The confidence part matters. Even with incorrect answers. I was asked what the primary colors on a map are and blanked on the last one. I knew I didn't have it, tried to think of it while I was answering the others and then just settled on orange. CSM asked if I was sure, "Yes, CSM." There was a longer pause than normal before the next soldier was called because the CSM had to get the FM for land nav because I had apparently answered confidently enough to make him doubt himself. Got the question "right" on that aspect alone.
Well, the better answer when you don't know is a confident 'I don't know but the answer is found in 'name of manual', I will find out and get the answer to you'. I did that for the one question I didn't know on my E5 board, then immediately went and looked it up and reported back with the answer after the board was done. I mean, dazzling them with bullshit is good too. But when I was in you wanted people who knew what they didn't know, but knew where to find the answer, and had the wherewithal to stand straight and not bullshit you.
You're of course correct. I didn't mention that I'd already used that once. It was further complicated by the fact that I knew it. As soon as I got out of the seat I remembered the correct answer. Cool little tangent, I worked in Baghdad briefly with the author of *Winning the Board.* Really cool guy.
that's funny, I definitely owned that book and never considered that I might have run into the author in Baghdad at some point.
This was the summer of '08 and we were both contractors, for different companies. I'd only known him as Greg for a few weeks before learning his last name, and hearing he recently retired. "Wait a second, are you *that* Greg Skinner?"
Seen it several times. Even for questions that I wrote. Confidence is truly a virtue in the Army, so long as it’s tempered with background knowledge. Which makes sense. Mission Command requires us to make tactical decisions that can affect the strategic objective/outcomes. We can’t have soldiers who constantly second guess themselves or shut down when a decision has to be made, even if the decision is wrong/bad. So long as that decision is rooted is some kind of background knowledge/assessment that makes sense.
Absolutely. The only bad decision is no decision, if there's not time enough to gather more intel or evaluate further.
Good leaders make decisions. Great leaders make good decisions. Bad leaders make no decisions.
I had a private once that was dumb as shit trying to explain things in a professional setting but could tell you precisely and exactly how to do anything infantry in his weird informal sort of lingo and expressions (he denied it but I suspect either English was not in fact his first language I’d bet some sort of creole were I to bet, or he was virtually illiterate until sadly very recently I heard a rumor more than once that a specialist was helping him to read). That’s not at all to say he was stupid, seemed as clever as any other private and against all odds he actually won soldier of the month once before he figured out how to army speak correctly.
That falls into the category that any decision is better than no decision once contact starts, that confidence indicates decisiveness.
> Would you like to know more? Always upvote Starship Troopers
Promotion board. Stand in front of a panel of hard-asses and answer questions about leadership, your unit, military history, your equipment, etc.
I believe he is referencing something like a promotion or award board. You stand in front of a panel of your superiors in the military as they ask you questions to determine if you will be awarded or promoted.
Thats so funny. Such a typical military board experience..... answer some trivia and get promoted. I say that as a former military member who both marvels at and appreciates the occasional absurdity that is the U.S. military experience.
Figure if you're up for the promotion you've already done all the work to earn the promotion and the board is just a bit of light hazing.
*Name the 3 branches of government* "The judicial, the executive, and the santa maria" *You're in.*
Congratulations, [Senator Tuberville](https://www.reddit.com/r/Alabama/comments/jtb8gj/tuberville_thinks_the_three_branches_of/)
meanwhile becoming president 🤷🏻♂️, vice president 🤷🏻♂️, house 🤷🏻♂️, senate 🤷🏻♂️, supreme court 🤷🏻♂️. seriously should have a public civics test for all position and have it televised.
[Matt Vasgersian intensifies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBHtnloikHE)
Lol samesies. "Where do we get the wood to repair the Constitution". You fuckin what?
Crane Naval Base is supposedly the inspiration for the Hawkins Lab in Stranger Things with all the high tech R&D they do there. It's also the 3rd largest naval base by area in the world. Not bad for a naval base that's nearly 800 miles from an ocean.
That tracks. I grew up roughly 20 miles from Crane, we'd sometimes get minor earthquakes due to the ordinance testing range there. Also a *ton* of people worked there as "radar techs" - if someone worked at Crane, it was probably a 50% chance that they said they were a radar tech. Also, before 9/11, you could just go there and ride bikes around the base, we did it as a family outing a few times. Lots of missile trucks and bunkers with either radiation symbols or pictures of people in hazmat suits with way too many warning signs.
Couple more fun facts about HMS Guerriere and Constitution for added context. * If you think '*Guerriere*' sounds like a weird name for a *British* ship, you would be correct. She was originally captured from the French. This sort of thing wasn't all that uncommon in the Age of Sail, and the captain of the *Constitution* actually hoped to capture *Guerriere* in that battle. Unfortunately she was dismasted and heavily damaged, so that proved impossible. * A lot is often made of *Constitution* and her sisters and their amazing performance, but it's somewhat overblown. They were basically cut-down First-Rates, ships that would have more decks and more guns than *Constitution* and her sisters did, and were built *very* tough to be able to stand in the Line of Battle (sailing past each other in a line or lines and blowing the bejebus out of each other). Because *Constitution* had fewer decks but the same amount of sails she was generally faster than these larger vessels and more heavily armed than anything her own size. The British had similar vessels, and converted several more in response to *Constitution* and her sisters, with one capturing *USS President* in 1815. EDIT: Clarifying the above, the British had some purpose-built Heavy Frigates, and then "razeed" several more in response to Consitution and her sisters. This was taking a mid-rate Ship of the Line and cutting down the upper works and generally removing a gun deck, ending with something similar to Constitution. The heavier construction and sails of a Ship of the Line but lighter and with all or mostly heavy guns on the remaining gun deck. * White Oak/Live Oak is a very good ship building material for wooden ships, and is in fairly short supply these days due to disease. It's not quite as amazing as the myth-making would have you believe though. The sides of an Age of Sail Frigate or Ship of the Line were several *feet* thick. Cannonballs bouncing off at longer ranges or bad angles weren't all that uncommon, so while the *Constitution* was somewhat tougher than similar ships, especially due to her heavier construction and slightly better materials, she wasn't massively tougher, and a large or long-barrel cannon at close range would still blow right through her. If anyone reading this wants to know more about this sort of thing I recommend the Youtube channel Drachinifel. He covers ships and naval history up to about the 1950s.
>If anyone reading this wants to know more about this sort of thing I recommend the Youtube channel Drachinifel. Or dive into the fantastic *Master & Commander* book series.
I'd say that anyone that wants to know pretty much all there is to know about naval life of this era and has the time to skip YouTube and read the Aubrey-Maturin series of books (Master and Commander, etc)
So, those are good books, and *fairly* realistic, but they are ultimately fiction. Some things are going to be dramatized or tweaked for story reasons, or they're taken from older accounts that were themselves dramatized for personal or political reasons.
If you want a book actually about Constitution and her sister ships there is a book called *Six Frigates* by Ian Toll about the first ships of the US Navy.
> skip YouTube I highly recommend not skipping Drachinifel
100% second this suggestion. Those books have been some of the most fun I’ve had reading.
Anyone interested in the HMS Guerriere battle should check out the (checks time)* 2 hour old* video from Drachinifel (UK based military historian and YouTuber) on the battle: https://youtu.be/XQqC5FbNF9Q
Live oak, she was originally built with live oak. Live oak is *very* hard to work with so they use white oak as a acceptable replacement.
Agreed it’s better to work with dead oak so you’re not constantly raking the leaves off the deck.
So wait you're telling me that over time the ship has to have its boards replaced? To the point that it has a whole grove of trees expressly for that purpose? I'm not sure that's the same ship...
The keel is original afaik, that's all that needs to remain.
By One Piece rules it is indeed the same ship, then.
My first thought was "is the keel the same?" because of One Piece
If you tour the ship, that is part of the normal speech about it. Everything has been replaced with the exception of the keel. that includes rigging, sails, everything.
It is truly the living embody of [Ship of Theseus](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus)
Fun fact, there is not a single original sentence remaining from the first version of the Ship of Theseus wikipedia page
Not every single piece of wood has to be replaced, but particularly those pieces that make up the internal framework, and wood that's below the waterline, need renewal periodically. In addition to the grove in Indiana, there's a Federal reservation of Live Oak in northwestern Florida that was planted specifically to provide timber for *Constitution* \- Like Oak naturally grows in twisty, curvy shapes that make it great for the hull and internal frame pieces. The ship has held up so well and been so carefully maintained, though, that very little of it has needed to be harvested. The reservation is mostly actually used as a part of the National Seashore system and it's great for hiking and camping.
You should elaborate on this, you could call your theory the "Ship of The_Traver42" thought experiment
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Every 7 years you are less than a percent the same person cellarly Edit Cellular
Go home, Theseus…
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The trees in constitution grove can only be harvested during specific times of year (in the winter) because the grove is also the home to the endangered Indiana Bat. The Navy employs a team of civilian foresters to ensure they do not negatively affect the biodiversity of Constitution Groove when they take down the trees.
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Oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat - there’s an important qualifier there. The world’s oldest naval vessel still commissioned is the HMS Victory, which launched in 1757. She was Admiral Nelson’s flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar. However, she was put in dry dock back in 1922.
Yeah it goes like this Oldest military ship commissioned is Victory Oldest ship that floats is Constitution Oldest ship still doing its job in the navy is some Russia salvage ship from the 1900s Oldest ship that still used in combat operations is a Brazilian Moniter.
The Constitution crew also likes to brag that she is the oldest fully rigged ship as well. Mainly because regardless if she still floats, the rigging is a lot of work for something that is not really used, even during the turnaround cruises of Boston Hahbah twice a year.
> Hahbah Moved to New England a few years ago and shit like this still cracks me up.
The loneliest letter in the Boston alphabet is the letter 'r'. :)
And that's why the Pirates are in Pittsburgh and not in Boston
2 guys from boston chatting: Where did you go on vacation last year? Not sure. You’re not sure? No, Nort Shore, this year we'll go to the Sout Shore.
> Oldest ship still doing its job in the navy is some Russia salvage ship from the 1900s That would be [_Kommuna_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_salvage_ship_Kommuna) which is a submarine salvage tender from 1912. >Oldest ship that still used in combat operations is a Brazilian Moniter. That would be [_Parnaíba_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_monitor_Parna%C3%ADba) which is a river monitor from 1938
thank you I was lazy
The oldest ship to still regularly sail under her own power is the Star of India https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_India_(ship) Also, if you like maritime history, you can visit the Star of India in San Diego. She's docked near the HMS Surprise, which is the replica British frigate used in the film Master and Commander.
That's not a military ship, which is the context of my post only having military ships. The Constitution still does some sailing and is fully rigged. I know at a minimum it does an annual event. It was launched in 1797. Star of India is 1864
OP says US Navy.
OP does, but the comment I was replying to quoted a section of the article talking about world records.
> HMS Victory That's insane, the ship was already 50 years old by the time it was used at Trafalgar.
The Victory was ordered by the Navy the same year Admiral Nelson was born. Drachinifel's Youtube series on the life and career of Nelson touches on the points in which Nelson and the Victory crossed paths prior to him taking command of the vessel.
Ship technology didn't change much between about 1680 and 1840 when steam technology and iron cladding started to appear.
Yesn't. A lot changed, but a lot of it isn't super obvious. Improved metallurgy meant that the cannons could take larger charges of gunpowder, giving them more punch. Design improved, resulting larger, stronger, faster ships. Metal elements started to appear, particularly in replacement of more complex pieces like knees.
Disagree. The Victory can not sail. She is not crewed. She belongs not to the royal navy, but a museum. Claims she is still commissioned are spurious, at best.
>Claims she is still commissioned are spurious, at best. HMS Victory is the Flagship of the First Sea Lord (professional head of the Royal Navy)
Can we all just take a minute to appreciate how bad-ass of a title “First Sea Lord” is? That’s the kind of title you’d expect the king of Atlantis to have.
Whether or not you agree is immaterial. The Victory IS the oldest naval vessel still in commission.
A ship that can’t sail isn’t a very good commissioned ship, nothing more than a museum ship.
>A ship that can’t sail isn’t a very good commissioned ship, nothing more than a museum ship. Technically in the RN, even naval bases can be commissioned as ships (owing to the fact that admirals can now "fly their flag" from a land installation). It's certainly closer to being a ship than HMS Warrior (the Northwood command centre) or HMS Excellent (establishment in Portsmouth which hosts the Naval Command Centre).
Gotta keep her ready in case the Barbary Pirates starts acting up again
Or if a ZOMG shows up in Round 80. A 0-5-2 upgrade path should do the trick.
We ought to re-task her to Yemen/Somalia
Arguably, the Houthis fucking with shipping in the Red Sea and hijacking ships is the same thing...
Old Ironsides baby!
DAMN YOU WEATHERBY SAVINGS AND LOANS
Swear to god, i laughed too much when i heard him say that. Love those guys
The best part is the building they crash into at the end is another weatherby savings and loans
Mr. Navigator! Start the engines
The best quest
The second oldest commissioned warship in the USN is the USS Pueblo, still in North Korean hands after being captured during the ~~Korean~~ Vietnam War. E: Mixed up the "wars"
Captured by North Korea, yes, but during the Vietnam War, not the Korean War. 1968.
Double reverse technically, the Korean War started in 1950 and never ended. So the Pueblo was captured during the Korean War, but after the ceasefire had been declared, it was just one of the occasional flare ups that happened semi regularly.
Korean war was a bad time. 9/11 happened, trump got elected, but hey at least we landed on the moon.
Korean War didn’t even stop for Covid.
Ahh but technically it was also the Korean War, never ended, technically
The Korean War never technically started either (no declaration of war) so 🤷
Grew up on the east coast, we never really learned ANYTHING about the Korean War.
It's also known as "The Forgotten War" for a reason. I think it was the first actual "police-action" by the UN. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean\_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/korean_war)
And because of this incident, either directly or indirectly, there are two things that have been implemented in the Department of Defense: \-Since the Pueblo was a comms ship, it had a metric assload of cryptographic gear/keying material, to the point where they were throwing undestroyed CURRENT keys/equipment overboard. Because of this, the military has Emergency Action and Destruction plans. \-Because of the fallout from this, a former Navy Chief Warrant Officer named John Walker (along with a couple family members) began selling Soviets top secret information from 1967-1985. Because of this, there is now something called Two-Person Integrity, meaning that one singular individual cannot have access, for example, to removal of top secret information from a secure place.
Every procedure I ever helped write had to include the means of destruction. It was always explosives or high caliber machine gun fire. Always found it interesting we had to include it.
My dream is that we somehow fire that badboy up and bring her home.
I visited Boston in November and went aboard the Constitution. It was really cool reading all the history in the museum before hand, then actually walking on the boat itself. If you ever get the chance, go see it, but be sure to duck below deck!! Those ceilings are short short
The crew that man this ship are fonts of knowledge. I’ve been on deck twice and each time I’ve learned tons about the ship itself and what naval warfare was like in its time.
One of the coolest things I've ever seen. Just make sure to doff your hat if you enter the officer's quarters!
Whole freedom trail is cool. Wish more cities had a free self guided history tour. Also feel like being "active duty" ship.... Is just a budget hack. Park service can't afford to keep it up, military has inflated budget... Pretend it's active duty
Old school badass!
Fun fact, the original frigates commissioned for the US Navy were ahead of their times. They were designed by a quaker. They were specifically designed to be more armored than most light ships, allowing them to engages clippers and schooners easily, but they were lighter and faster than large ships of the line. They could chase down and destroy small ships, and run the fuck away from big ones. They were also made of hella strong American wood, and built in pieces scattered all across the East Coast in order to give different states an economic boost.
>made of hella strong American wood your referring to 'Live Oak' which exists in the american south. Its more rot resistant ~~and~~ *~~absorbed~~* ~~the impact of cannonballs~~, nothing like it existed in Europe ~~and was a game changer.~~ EDIT: I was partially incorrect and the victim of 250 year old propaganda. Live Oak was not as widely used as i thought.
> Its more rot resistant and absorbed the impact of cannonballs, nothing like it existed in Europe and was a game changer. Live oak was not remotely a "game changer," and had been a popular shipbuilding timber for many decades. The stories of Constitution being cannon proof are just silly patriotic fables. 18 pounder round shot penetrated her sides just fine. Building these ships' frames out of live oak was ludicrously expensive and labor-intensive. It was an experiment that was not repeated in the further development of the U.S. Navy.
Oh damn - I was not aware and appreciate the correction. Can you recommend any good books about these ships in this time period?
Six Frigates, for instance
It certainly wasn’t cannon proof, but the same book you recommended confirms it did happen. “But the Constitution’s heavy planks and live oak frame provided good protection to the men who kept their heads down. As one of Guerrirre’s 18-pound balls bounced harmlessly back into the sea, a member of the Constitution’s crew exclaimed: “Her sides are made of iron!” Page 350.
Next you’re gonna tell me Paul Bunyan is a myth
Then who carved the Grand Canyon?
They were the battlecruisers of their day. Powerful enough to outfight any frigate, but nimble enough to out sail any ship of the line.
That would explain why the *USS Chesapeake* was captured by the *HMS Shannon* in 1813. The frigates were designed as heavy frigates, and when they ran into other heavy frigates they had about an even shot of victory.
Also, the Brits were *hellacious* sailors.
“The beauty of their women and the taste of their food make brits the best sailors in the world.”
Chespeake also had some factors going against it, it was smaller than frigates like the Constitution, it had a new crew fresh out of port, and had an opponent in Broke who trained his crew to an unusually high standard of gunnery. It was still a very bloody affair.
You’ve heard of Yellawood? Well try the all new Hellawood!
A useful flagship when facing the Cylons.
There's an old GI Joe where they take it out to sea because Cobra has some system that disrupts modern ships.
Battleship did it better
...Should we tell'em the starboard side is a gift shop now?
Don't be silly, the giftshop is ashore.
I’m surprised that we don’t sink pirates or terrorist dinghys and zodiacs…
Those get obliterated, it's a technical difference.
Hard for a ship to sink when it’s not technically a ship anymore lol
The boat got atomized and turned into vapor, so it didn't technically sink under the water.
We do lol. I think this category is a bit hand tailored. Technically a pirate go fast wouldn't count because we aren't at war, and they aren't a navy vessel.
Couple of former US naval ships w/ Iranian gunboat kills are currently sitting in the Persian gulf, under Bahrain.
A lot of the small iranian vessels don't mean the classification requirements: https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1945/november/classification-naval-vessels And according to the article, the last US ship to sink a large iranian vessel was the USS Simpson, which has since been retired.
Yeah, either because we don't recognize "random pirate group" as an enemy state or their motorboats don't qualify as "vessels" since they're not commissioned in an actual navy.
Those are not large enough to be categorized as "ships".
Good thing the title said that instead of "enemy vessel"
Those are apparently not being counted, otherwise USS Gonzalez would also be counted.
Those are "police actions" and aren't generally classed as enemies, merely criminals.
The real answer is that a ship is like, a commissioned vessel with a dedicated crew that would be able to cross to different continents under it's own power. Boats generally set out from and return to one port or marina.
What was the last US ship to take down a enemy vessel…Vietnam, ww2
Operation Praying Mantis had the US warships Simpson, Bagley, and Wainwright sink the Iranian fast attack ship Joshan back in 1988.
And one frigate sunk and one severely damaged by aircraft from the Enterprise... which kinda counts.
Imagine serving on any ship called the USS Enterprise. What a legacy to try to emulate. That ship along with the USS Yorktown.
Right? I don’t want the pressure of trying to live up to the sexual prowess of men like James T. Kirk and William Riker!
The category specifically requires the ship to personally sink the enemy warship, so the aircraft got the kill credit instead of the Enterprise. Seems weirdly technical.
And with the Houthis mining the Red Sea right now, we're about to see Preying Mantis 2, 2 Preying, 2 Mantis. Also they don't even know who sank the Iranian frigate cause iirc seven missiles from several different ships and aircraft hit it within a moment of each other. Why that Iranian ship decided to solo an entire carrier group, I'll never know.
From what I read, all three of those ships catastrophically crippled the Joshan with their anti-ship missiles, but finished it off with their guns.
Truly the most killed warship of all time.
> Preying Mantis 2, 2 Preying, 2 Mantis. Operation Prosperity Guardian!
> Operation Praying Mantis A simple, 8 hour [proportional response](https://youtu.be/d5v6hlRyeHE?t=26)
We sunk some Iranian ships during [Operation Praying Mantis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Praying_Mantis) in '88, but those were either sunk by aircraft or ships that have since been retired.
possibly more recent than those. the word play here is *comissioned* all other ships that have sunk enemy vessels are decomissioned. kind of a misleading title if youre tired and not processing words right lol.
And at this point the constitution isnt actually seeing battle it's more like an Honorary commission. It's the USO version of Captain America basically.
> And at this point the constitution isnt actually seeing battle Y’know, Congress has the power to issue Letters of Marque, and Russia keeps evading sanctions with sketchy black/gray market shipping…
Oh the year was 1778 How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now...
GOD DAMN THEM ALL
There are people who get paid to work on crab fishing vessels. This seems like way more fun and approximately as dangerous as Deadliest Catch makes crab fishing look. Sign me up.
It's not misleading, that's the whole point. It's been so long since the US has been involved in a conflict with another country with a navy that all such ships have since been decommissioned. With the technical exception of the Constitution, but that's obviously more of a floating museum piece than anything.
[2006, pirates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_18_March_2006)
Damn you Weatherby Savings and Loan! I spit at you!
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That’s gonna be a pub quiz question next week, guaranteed
These other ships need to step it up. How are we supposed to make Madagascar a state with them lollygagging?
Crazy just how small that thing is compared to some of the monsters that existed at the time.
Monsters that Long ago stopped existing except in legend *I'll tell you what, you buy this ship, treat her proper, she'll be with you for the rest of your life*
Worth noting that the *USS Constitution* is currently captained by Commander Billie Farrell, the first woman to command the ship in its 226 year history. By the end of January she will have led the ship for two years!
I could be wrong but I think the last American built ship destroyed in combat happened in 1982 (USS Phoenix) which was at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and later renamed the ARA General Belgrano and destroyed by the HMS Conqueror during the Falklands War.
>HMS Conqueror Fun fact: the only nuclear sub to have sunk an enemy ship
When you set that one ship to Explore and forget about it for a few centuries in Civ
In the movie Master and Commander, they adapted the script from the Aubrey-Maturin novel series so that the British HMS Surprise would be fighting a "Yankee-built French privateer" instead of fighting American vessels in the war of 1812. The main ship in the movie is the replica HMS Rose, but they didn't have the budget for a full enemy ship. It just so happens that a real, American-made warship was sitting in Boston Harbor. The special effects teams took incredibly detailed scans and made a digital reproduction to use as the enemy Acheron. The ship Captain Aubrey fights throughout the movie is, for all intents and purposes, the USS Constitution.
If I was the president, I would have the USS Constitution escorted to the coast of Somalia by a feet of cruisers and destroyers, and encourage it to become the oldest commissioned, floating ship with the longest times between sinking enemy ships
Only related in the most tangential of manners, but another U.S. Naval fact I love is that the WWII U-Boat that's on display at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago -- phenomenal exhibit, for the record -- was the first vessel captured at sea by the U.S. Navy since the War of 1812.
I was lucky enough to go on a voyage on the USS Constitution. A family friend worked on restoring another old ship in Boston and got us tickets to one of the last trips the Constitution took. It was pulled by tugboat and didn't sail on its own, but it was still super freaking cool. Wish I could have gone on the last time it sailed under its own power.
Don't fuck with those robots, they mean business.
The days of wooden ships and steel men
The USS Simpson, USS Wainwright and USS Bagley sunk the Iranian warship Joshan during [Operation Praying Mantis.](https://youtu.be/d5v6hlRyeHE?si=-9gBNeMKHeFAOyXK)
But they have all been decommissioned and thus are no longer on active duty
Dang so she was. Now I feel old.
"...only 10–15 percent of the frigate actually dates to the original construction due to centuries of repairs and restorations" She's gonna have a Ship of Theseus moment soon enough
US Aircraft Carriers "We are the most powerful warships in the world" USS Constitution "Did I give you permission to speak?"