USS Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship still afloat.
The United States authorized Constitution and five sister frigates through the Naval Act of 1794, helping establish a permanent national navy after independence. Boston shipbuilder Edmund Hartt built the vessel, which was launched on October 21, 1797. She was designed as a powerful 44-gun heavy frigate, larger and more heavily armed than ordinary frigates of the era.
Constitution became famous during the War of 1812. In 1812, she defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere, whose cannonballs appeared to bounce off her unusually strong wooden hull. That encounter inspired her enduring nickname, “Old Ironsides.” She also captured or defeated several other British vessels during the war.
The ship survived several proposed retirement or scrapping efforts, including a widely publicized preservation campaign in the 1830s. She is berthed at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston and remains a commissioned U.S. Navy ship. “Oldest commissioned warship afloat” refers to her official naval status and continued presence on the water, not to her being the oldest ship ever built.