A Baltimore staple is taking a special trip on Thursday.
The USS Constellation that fought in the Civil War and the War of 1812 usually lives in the Inner Harbor, but Thursday morning it is setting sail.
Shoving off at Pier 1 on the USS Constellation. @ABC2NEWS pic.twitter.com/Hs6KtAWN86
— Cassie Carlisle (@CassieABC2) October 26, 2017
This historic landmark will sail to Fort McHenry, salute the fort, and turn around. The entire goal of the trip is to simply turn around the boat so they can finish painting the hull at the Inner Harbor as part of its restoration.
This is all part of the Living Classroom Foundations effort to maintain this piece of history.
The constellation has stories for centuries with the original ship, the frigate USS Constellation, first setting sail in 1797 to protect U.S. commerce ships, facing its first battle fire in 1799.
In the West Indies, the Constellation captured a French frigate then two French privateers in a quasi-war with France.
The ship's most noteworthy involvement came in the War of 1812 where it sailed from D.C. to Hampton Roads, Virginia and was blockaded by the British.
The USS Constellation that currently lives in the Inner Harbor was built in 1854 using a small amount of material that was salvaged from the frigate USS Constellation, which had been disassembled the year before.
The Constellation has been patched and rebuilt several times.
