According to Naval tradition, when a ships keel is laid it is considered a ship and given a name remember the 6 ship were in different phases of constuction, but 3 were stopped after the treaty, so yes some feel that the ships were built. But only 3 were completed. The money was use elseware and probally to finish/outfit the other ships. USS President was about 1/4 built give or take, but construction was stopped after the treaty. The first “6” were to be the exact same calss but with very minor differances.
I have the Time-life seafarer series and I have the book entitled FRIGATES, (This is a great source of info, you may want to get a copy, it’s out of production but you can find copies on ebay and do a search on bibliofind) I can copy the section for those who want. Here are a few web sites for you on the ships and others. The other ships such as the USS Essex was of a different class and not considered a “sister” Look at the bow of the Constellation and see the differances.
Sounds to me the Navy website meant six frigates in commission at the time of the War of 1812
Fate
Consititution (In Boston)
President (Captured and taken to England, paid off and scrapped)
United States (Hulk was sunk during the Civil War)
Constellation (Scrapped in the 1853)
Chesapeak (Captured and taken to England, paid off and scrapped)
Essex (Captured and taken to England, paid off and scrapped in 1837)
The Essex was sponsored by the town of Salem Mass. She was a much smaller frigate and wreaked havoc on the British whaling industry in the Pacific before being captured.
One more question, I got 2 1/96 scale Constitutions and I’m thinking on making the second one the USS President are the bow & stren details the same or are they different and where could one get the pix or drawings of them?, I’m getting ready to build a 1/120 scale USS United States but the details are different from the same scale Constitution and they are made from the same company
Also to go along with everone is saying about the USS United States.She had a yellowish stripe on instead of the white you see on todays Constitution. and I believe that it was below the gun ports but I maybe wrong about that.
Rod
Also to go along with everone is saying about the USS United States.She had a yellowish stripe on instead of the white you see on todays Constitution. and I believe that it was below the gun ports but I maybe wrong about that.
Rod
Hey Big Jake;
I was wondering if the same details except the name is on both of their stern panels the bows I’m not to worried about but it’s the stern I’m more concerned about, and is there a good website to look into these ships?
There is an older Kalmbach book about building plastic ship models that focuses mainly on sailing ships. In it is a chapter where the author takes you step by step to convert the Revell 1/96 Constitution into the USS President. Very good reference for building plastic sailing ships.
From Chapelle’s History of th eAmerican Sailing Navy:
Constitution, President, and United Staes were 44 gun frigates, built form the same plans. So, they were sisterships. The ships were built in 3 different yards in 3 different ports, with construction overseen by three different captains. The captains had a lot of influence in the rigging and arming of the ships, so there were many minor differences in the way the ships were fitted out.
Congress, COnstellation, and CHesapeake were 38 gun frigates, and not sisters of the Constitution class.