--- title: "This is what happened to the USS Constitution’s original guns" date: "2021-08-15" modified: "2021-08-16" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/uss-constitution-original-guns/" categories: - "History" - "Navy" - "Ships" - "Tactical" - "War History" - "War of 1812" --- # This is what happened to the USS Constitution’s original guns ![]() If you visit the USS *Constitution* in Boston these days, the cannons you'll see on her gun deck aren't the originals launched with the ship. The guns aboard the ship are replicas, and only two of them are capable of firing salute charges. Even when the sailors aboard *Constitution* fire salutes, it's a far cry from the way cannons were loaded and fired when Old Ironsides was first laid. In fact, they're inaccurate replicas, with 18 of them even bearing the Royal Cipher of King George II. --- ![]() *The creator thought the ship's original guns were confiscated from the British. He was wrong.* *(USS Constitution Museum Collection)* USS Constitution was first launched in 1797 and saw action against the Royal Navy during the War of 1812. She took down five British warships, victories that stunned not only the Royal Navy, but the rest of the world. Her most famous victory was against the HMS *Guerriere*, the victory that earned her the nickname "Old Ironsides" when the *Guerriere's* 526-pound broadsides bounced off *Constitution's* hull as if it were made of iron. But the 30 24-pounder long guns and 20 32-pounder carronades it launched with weren't captured from the British during the Revolution. The guns aboard *Constitution* were never designed to stay solely aboard the ship, as weapons at that time were moved as needed. Shortly before the Civil War, she took an illegal American slaver as a prize off the coast of Angola and was decommissioned. The ship was turned into a training ship for Midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy. Eventually, she was turned into housing for sailors until the turn of the 20th Century. ![]() *The Constitution being refitted as training ship for Midshipmen.* It was around 1906 that Congress decided to restore *Constitution* to her former glory. After public outcry against the ship being used for target practice by the Navy halted its planned sinking, $100,000 was appropriated to restore the ship as a museum. This included new casts of cannon for her decks. Some 54 guns were going to be cast for the restoration. But the Naval Constructor in charge of the armaments, believing there was no documentation about the original guns, [used a French design instead](). So rather than long guns and carronades, the designer saved money by using the same gun on every deck. In 1925, the Navy rectified this and went all-out in restoring *Constitution.* The new restoration scrapped all of the 1906 guns for being historically inaccurate. After four years in drydock, the guns the Navy used to replace the 1906 guns were also inaccurate. These were the aforementioned British-style weapons – but at least they represent the kinds of weapons found on the gun decks and spar decks. Two of them even fire salutes. The two saluting guns aboard *Constitution* were retrofitted to fire 40mm shells of black powder just in time for the United States Centennial in 1976. On Nov. 11, 1976, the commanding officer of the ship decided to fire the salute guns in the morning and in the evening from the ship's mooring in Boston Harbor – a tradition it has carried on ever since. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()