Humphreys however, combined the thin sleek hull of the frigate with the construction style of the ship-of-the-line to create a ship "strong enough to defeat any ship enemy the same size and fast enough to out sail a stronger opponent." () His revolutionary style didn't stop there; furthermore he employed beams of white oak or "thick planks" to run the entire length of the ship, therefore reducing the need for much bracing. Then due to the loss of the bracing weight he then decreased the space between ribs (normally several feet) to two inches, thus creating her "sides of iron"!.
Three years after the keel was laid, the mighty ship was complete. With a total cost of $302,718, it was "as expensive to our young nation as aircraft carriers are today." On October 21 1797, after two failed launching attempts the USS CONSTITUTION set out from her birthplace in Boston Harbor to represent America on the high seas. Displacing 2,200 tons, reaching 204 billets long, having a main mast height of 220 feet, reaching speeds of 13+ knots the ship was blisteringly fast for its size. Armed with a crew of 450 men, including 55 marines, along with thirty-two 24 pounder long guns, twenty 32 pounder Carronades, and two 24 pounder bow chasers, it was one of the most heavily armed frigates in existence, ever.
Her first major success came on July 2, 1805, when after 4 attacks on the Moorish coast of Tripoli, the Bey of Tripoli himself boarded the ship to sign a pact ending hostilities: a feat that no European nation had yet to accomplish.
However it wasn't until the war of 1812 that the CONSTITUTION earned her place in naval history as one of the most successful ships in history. On the nineteenth of August, while patrolling the coast between Nova Scotia and Cape Race, the CONSTITUTION sighted a British ship, the HMS GUERRIERE. Having the advantageous position, Captain Isaac Hull, a veteran of the revolution, ordered to give chase.
