USS Constitution vs HMS Java

[jon_norstog]

This was one of those sea fights that did not go so well for the British. The Java was a total loss, its Captain dead and the senior officer left was the first lieutenant. After that fight, Admiralty ordered its fleet frigates to NOT engage American frigates in single-ship combat.

I was surprised to see this come in over the transom. Wedgewood commemorative plate on sale! A top-of-the-line British ceramics firm, no less! The King eats off this stuff!

https://www.replacements.com/china-wedgwood-constitution-and-java-18-oval-serving-platter/p/35182751

For those interested here is a rundown on that sea fight, courtesy of the USS Constitution Museum. It's worth a reading.

https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/major-events/the-hms-java-battle/

jn

[pcox]

My dad's destroyer, the Ralph Talbot DD390, was moored in the Boston Naval Shipyard during a storm. The Constitution broke loose from her mooring lines and drifted across the anchorage and rammed the RT putting a hole in her side. The Constitution had no damage from the incident.

[jon_norstog]

Where is the LOL button on this site!

jn

[bruce]

:headbang:

[lyman]

Where is the LOL button on this site!

jn

you mean this one?


:icon_lol:

[Vern Humphrey]

The Constitution was one of "Humphrey's Frigates." The British Navy had standing orders not to fight one of these frigates one-on-one.

[jon_norstog]

My dad's destroyer, the Ralph Talbot DD390, was moored in the Boston Naval Shipyard during a storm. The Constitution broke loose from her mooring lines and drifted across the anchorage and rammed the RT putting a hole in her side. The Constitution had no damage from the incident.

"Ralph Talbot was laid down at the Boston Navy Yard 28 October 1935; launched 31 October 1936; sponsored by Mrs. Mary Talbot, mother of Lieutenant Talbot; and commissioned 14 October 1937. On 21 September 1938 during the New England Hurricane, the frigate Constitution rammed into the Ralph Talbot after breaking loose."

The Talbot was a fighting ship. She was at Pearl for the attack, & got underway to look for the enemy .. Wikipedia:
"Moored at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941, the crew of the Ralph Talbot manned her guns and began preparations for getting underway within minutes of the start of the Japanese attack. By 0900 she was en route out of the harbor having already splashed her first enemy aircraft. After the attack, she searched for enemy submarines and, on the 14th, sortied with Task Force 14 (TF 14) on the first of a series of carrier force screening assignments. "

14 battle stars. Her last hurrah was at Kwajalein Atoll, where she was a target in a 1948 A-bomb test that left her too hot to handle. She was sunk in deep water and stricken from the Navy list in 1948.

jn