24 October 2022: Another soggy day here in the Northeast - but not cold and surely no snow yet! This week just ended marked a couple of anniversaries worth mentioning - one in the United States and one in Great Britain. From Fox News:
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The mighty USS Constitution, arguably the most famous warship in American history — a testament to dauntless courage at sea in the nation's infancy — was launched in Boston on this day in history, Oct. 21, 1797.
The mighty warship, 225 years old today, is still afloat in Boston's Charlestown Navy Yard.
She serves the United States as a reminder of the
fight for national sovereignty, a symbol of our unique-at-the-time
constitutional foundations and as the centerpiece of the USS Constitution.
Constitution with Blue Angels summer 2012
"The ship sailed its first cruise [in 1798] as the Quasi-War with France emerged. Later it served in engagements with pirates off the Barbary Coast in the Mediterranean," the National Park Services writes of the vessel.
The USS Constitution was part of the American fleet that bombarded Tripoli in 1804, a powerful show of force on the global stage of the young nation's naval power.
She remains a commissioned US Navy vessel, still manned by a U.S. Navy crew, making the USS Constitution the oldest warship [ed: oldest afloat - HMS Victory is oldest] in the world.
The frigate, better known as Old Ironsides for her mighty oak hull and masts, was designed by Joshua Humphreys and was built over three years at Hartt's shipyard, in what is now Boston's North End.
The ship was ordered on March 1, 1794, in anticipation of the passage of the Naval Act of 1794, which President George Washington signed on March 27.
She enjoyed her greatest glory and
earned her status in the annals of naval warfare during the War of 1812. 
"Huzzah, her sides are made of iron!" an America sailor shouted joyfully, as the ship's white oak planks and live oak frame, grown in the swamps of Georgia, repelled volleys of direct cannon fire from British warship HMS Guerriere.
The battle was fought on the high seas, about 600 miles east of Boston, on Aug. 19, 1812.
Constitution defeats HMS Guerriere
Constitution, under Captain Isaac Hull, destroyed the Guerriere and forced her to surrender in the close-combat sea exchange. The British ship was so badly beaten that Hull scuttled it rather than capture it as a trophy of war.
"Constitution went on to defeat or capture seven more British ships in the War of 1812 and ran the British blockade of Boston twice," notes History.com.
She earned 33 victories at sea, with zero defeats.
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The other event - the one in Great Britain - was the anniversary of the brilliant victory against the combined Spanish and French fleets at Trafalgar, orchestrated by Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson, who sadly was killed by a sniper in the battle.
a wreath is laid at the spot where Nelson died
That occurred on 21 October, 1805 off the coast of Cape Trafalgar (Spain). It was there that the now famous flag hoist, "England expects every man to do his duty" was raised on HMS Victory, Nelson's flagship.
The ship lives on today, albeit in drydock, in Portsmouth's Royal Dockyards, England as the oldest still commissioned warship in the world.
Until next time,
Fair winds,
Old Salt
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