The name 'Constitution' was among ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering in March of 1795 for the frigates that were to be constructed. She was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed. She is the world's oldest commissioned naval warship still afloat. USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Constitution, dressed overall, fires a 17-gun salute in Boston Harbor, 4 July 2014.įirst commander: Captain Samuel Nicholson
