Matt Colie wrote:
The Constellation was first built in 1797 as one of the American super
frigates. This was the catagory that would soon include the
Constitution. In 1855, she was rebuilt and came back out as a smaller
and lighter corvette.

Actually, that's not true. The USS Constellation frigate was
decommissioned & broken up in a differnt place, several
years before the USS Constellation that currently exists in
Baltimore was laid down. The U.S. Navy never considered them
the same ship at all, and the later ship is quite a bit
bigger than the original and carried a different rate.

It appears this bit of misdirection, that the Constellation
frigate was "rebuilt" into the Constellation sloop-of-war,
was originated by the owners of the Constellation tourist
concession. Not sure if it was to try and excite more public
interest, or to try to get gov't money. They even rebuilt
parts of the ship to try and make it look more like the
Continental frigate. Many considered this a vandalization at
the time, including Howard I. Chappelle.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King