Author guest post from Dr Kerry Jang.

You know the phenomena of when a story is told it gets better and more fantastic with each retelling? When it comes to Constitution, so much of her story has become romanticized and the most common narrative extolling her design features were a “…stroke of genius”, and of her famous battles, “… beating the Royal Navy on equal terms…”. I am always skeptical of claims such as these, and for the new ShipCraft, I decided to keep an open mind and delve a little deeper into these claims to see if they were warranted.  It is my hope that after reading my conclusions that a more balanced picture of the American Navy’s most celebrated ship.

A few things I learned and discuss in the book.

1. The Constitution and her sisters were very large frigates, almost like “pocket battleships” designed to out gun any French or British ship of the era. Their immense size meant that specialized construction and design measures had to be taken, and on paper these considerations were considered “revolutionary”, they were not necessarily true and that they were far less effective than believed in practice – as reported by scientific analysis conducted by the US Navy in the 1970’s.
2. Much has been written about Constitution’s victories over smaller ships of the Royal Navy, but her sister ships were far less successful, despite their overwhelming size and tons of metal thrown. Why?
3. How much did the disastrous American invasion of Canada in 1812 contribute to the glorification of the ship?

There is no doubt that Constitution’s victories were integral to the creation of the fledgling US Navy at the time and her mythical status has played a role in American naval thinking and its development into a major maritime power. But the question remains – how much is mythos and how much is reality for which the reader will have to decide for themselves.

For model makers, investigation of the refits and reconstructions of Constitution has influenced model kits of the ship. Many model kits reflect a 1927 restoration by Lt. John Lord that was part fantasy. The book discusses these changes and what is required to build a model of her glory days with a critical analysis by John McKay and myself of contemporary models, logs, and period illustrations to come to her actual service appearance.

Order your copy here.