The USS Constitution has seen a few things since launching from Boston Harbor 217 years ago on October 21, 1797…and remarkably, is still around to tell the tale. (You know, if boats could talk and all…) 

Originally built to fight Barbary pirates off the North African coast, the 44-gun Navy frigate was named by George Washington in honor of the country's constitution (which was only a decade old, it's worth noting). After that, she moved on to service in the War of 1812, where she won her more famed nickname "Old Ironsides" during a naval tussle with a British warship off the coast of Nova Scotia. Witnesses to the battle claimed that British shots bounced off the sides of the Constitution as if the wooden vessel had been made of iron. That war didn't go too well for the young United States, but a victory at sea over the world's predominant naval power was a nice morale boost.

During the Civil War, Old Ironsides served as a training ship and was eventually designated a museum ship after retiring from active service. She finished a three-year national tour in 1934, and has been docked at Boston's Charlestown Navy Yard ever since, with a few notable exceptions. Thanks to numerous restorations, the Constitution is still seaworthy…the world's oldest commissioned naval vessel still afloat. She sailed under her own power in 1997 (her 200th anniversary), with Walter Cronkite among the dignitaries who took a turn at the helm. She sailed again in 2012 (pictured), marking 200 years since the 1812 battle that made her famous. The naval history group responsible for the ship's maintenance and restoration has worked hard to keep the Constitution as close to her historical configuration as possible, and estimate that at least 10% of the ship's timber contains material original to her 18th century construction.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/USS_Constitution_underway,_August_19,_2012_by_Castle_Island_cropped.jpg