Customer Reviews

The 44-Gun Frigate USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides" (Anatomy of the Ship)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...NOT a novel. If you're looking for a romantic history--this is not the book you want. If you want a factual historical account with highly detailed drawings about all the many "restorations" of this ship--this book is excellent. I just purchased a 3.5 foot long model of the USS Constitution and I was curious as to it's accuracy--that's why I purchased this book. I'm not a nautical expert--but after seeing the many changes this ship (see? I said "ship" not BOAT:) has gone through, it made me want to find out more about the naval history of our country---and others. Did you know that the USS Constituion was not the first naval frigate launched by our young nation? It was actually the third (see page 8 of this book and verified in other books I've since read as well). I'm wondering if I should tell you the name of our country's first REAL fighting frigate (the largest fighting ship (44 guns) we had as a young nation). Read the book for the answer! This book contains many diagrams, photos, and makes you appreciate just how precious this wonderful real bit of history to us as a nation. The USS Constitution is STILL the oldest official ship of any nation which can still sail on it's own . The USS Constellation in Baltimore is NOT the same Constellation launched as the 5th of 6 completed vessels in 1797. The Constellation, although still a wonderful part of our heritage, was actually launched in 1851 after the other ship was dismantled. It is a much smaller vessel and has no parts of the original frigate of 1797. The HMS Victory, which I also have a large model of, is larger but it is in permanent 'drydock' (meaning it is kept out of water) and belongs to our former "enemy" of the American Revolution-- now our closest partner and friend, Great Britain (UK).
The "Anatomy of the Ship" series is actually a wonderful cadre of books each about a single vessel. It's a great series . I would most definitely urge the reader to purchase if you are interested in the historical facts, diagrams, and detailed analysis of "Old Ironsides". In fact, one could most probably construct a detailed model of the USS Constitution just using this book.
I trust this has given you some insight into the book. Perhaps I'll travel up to Boston so I can see the 'old girl' up close and personal, 'ey matey?

Reviews of earlier editions of this reference were very negative. I purchased the revised (current) version and could find none of the problems listed in reviews of the earlier editions. I conclude that those problems were resolved in this edition. I have placed this book on my reference shelf beside others of similar sterling quality and will use it as I construct my own model of USS Constitution. I recommend this REVISED reference for any who want detailed plans of this magnificent ship!

I waited thirty years for this book to be written. After experiencing Anatomy of a Ship's H.M.S. Pandora and Victory I was beside myself with excitment in anticipation of an in-depth disection of Constitution. Woa, was I ever disapointed. Anatomy of a Ship series hit a nadir with this publication. Compared to Victory and Pandora the scope of the drawings is limited and are not to a constant scale. Details are bunched and difficult to seperate when searching the adjacent captioning. Several drawing legends were arranged backwards, the numbers ascended from from one side of the page but the actual legends ascended from the opposite side, lots of hunting. Spelling is inconsistant "Mizzen" being the most frequent error. How much faith can one place in the natutical background, and hence, accuracy of a document when the author lables ladders as "Stairs" the ship's wheel as a "Steering Wheel" and mis-spells "Mizzen" as "Mizen"? Two photographs are grossly mis-captioned too. The history of the ship represents the typical "sanitized" version generated by government agencies, great for a dim public entralled by a steady diet of reality TV programs but not much accurate substance is presented. All in all this book is a typical example of what you can accomplish with a computer and the desire to make a quick buck over providing a product whose quality is consistent with the previous efforts of this series. Stairs, geesch.

The "Anatomy of the Ship" series has always been a source of fascination for me, and I currently own 23 books in the series, including 9 on wooden ships. That said, this book is a serious disappointment on a number of levels, and probably the weakest book in the series I own.

From a quick glance, this book looks like the ultimate modeler's guide to this ship, and a treasure trove of detail for serious naval buffs. Highlights include plans of each deck, hull line plans, meticulously detailed views of the standing and running rigging, numerous transverse sections through the hull. Unfortunately, it's all wrapped up in a book that's poorly edited, sloppily researched, and can't hold a candle to other books in the series.

This book is riddled with typos and landlubber terminology - companionways are "stairways," the sickbay is a "hospital," the brig a "prison," the helm a "steering wheel," tressel-trees are "trusseltrees," and so on. In many cases, the drawing keys and drawings are crammed together so closely I couldn't tell which key was referring to which drawing. Many of the actual drawings are reproduced at too small a scale or don't even include an accompanying scale.

On a research front, Marquardt makes no mention of the famous 1812 "Hull model" or Tyrone Martin's "A Most Fortunate Ship," widely regarded as the definitive history of the Constitution. The drawing depicting the disposition of frames depicts the ship with alternating single and double frames with large gaps between, even though photographs of the ship show this arrangement to be completely inaccurate. He also never mentions the specifications prepared by John Humphreys, who designed the first American frigates. As far as I know, this information is still available.

"Old Ironsides" also fails to hold up when compared to the other wooden ship Anatomies. The drafting tends to be cold and lacking in detail, the absence of guns or gunports on the plan of the gun deck being one example. John McKay's books on the Victory, Bounty, and Pandora include detailed "rigging schedules" and plans showing every frame and beam in the ship's structure, along with numerous perspective views and dimensioned drawings of every mast and spar. Marquardt's depictions of the rigging are crisp, detailed, and easily understood, but the rest of the book lacks a certain "oomph."

Marquardt's books in this series on the Endeavour and Beagle are vastly superior to the "The 44-Gun Frigate USS Constitution." Considering the historical significance of the Constitution, it's place in the American mythos, and the amount of information available on it, this should have been a better book than it is.

This is an excellent reference book, especially for the modeler who wishes to enhance his kit or scrath built model by building it as it would have appeared during a specific time period. Up until now I had no idea that there had been so many Gallery changes on this ship. And, that because it was a "war ship," and no one was thinking of making it into a museum some day, its Captains would update it with the latest equipment and change its appearance according to their particular needs and desires.

One thing that changed every time it was rebuilt or updated, was the colors of any paints used. I wish the author had addressed that the best he could.

All in all, a good purchase and a compliment to my ever growing nautical library.

Bought this for my father who had building this ship for at least 10 years. He only has pictures to refrence so this book was perfect for the extra detail he needed

As a modeler looking to build a very accurate Constitution, I was thrilled to find an `Anatomy of the Ship' covering her. I had used this series for Victory and Hood, and I eagerly awaited its arrival (very quick even with Amazon free shipping!). On arrival, I tore the box open like a kid at Christmas. That's when the disappointments started. On the overleaf, there are color drawings of the plan view and stern galleries of the ship. I looked at the stern and did a double take; I've never seen anything like that, with a couple of inverted horseshoes at the sides behind the quarter galleries! I thought perhaps it might be decorations from a different period than the 1812 ship. After reading the page specific to the stern galleries inside, I was blown away, as the author, a Mr. Marquardt, specifies that as the actual 1812 stern. I did a quick check of the bibliography for references to Cdr. Tyrone Martin, who is widely recognized as the authority on her, having been her commanding officer through the restoration for the 1976 Bi-centennial celebrations. He was nowhere to be found. I read the verbiage Mr. Marquardt wrote detailing his reasons for this selection, which he ascribes a detailed micro-analysis of the Michele Felice Corne painting commissioned by some of her officers. His rational for this being accurate is that Corne might have had opportunities to view the ship in harbor, and that these officers certainly would know the layout of their ship (despite their presumably not having the micro-analysis methodology available today?). Also, Mr. Marquardt nowhere references the Isaac Hull model, despite the fact that the builders of that also would have known the layout of the ship, considering they lived on it. These omissions tend to give me pause over the remaining details in this particular book. I was hoping for an alternative to the Bluejacket instruction manual (which does reference Cdr. Martin and the Hull model), I will be very careful to cross referencing the material presented here against other sources prior to incorporating it into a model.

If you are building a model of USF Constitution, writing about the ship (a history or anything involving action about the ship), I believe that you MUST refer to this book for construction/rigging details. While there are other volumes with more historical detail, I have found NO other volume with more physical details! I could not have built my Connie models (full vessel and cross-section) without it.

The book is very helpful in every way when it comes to modeling the constitution

This a great book, so why the 2 stars? The book states on the cover that it is a revised edition complete with 1/96 scale fold-out plan. Well when they revised the book I guess they took the fold-out plan "OUT". I couldn't find it. I bough 4 books in this series and they all say the same thing but NO PLANS. If it wasn't that the other information in the book is great I would have returned all 4. Still a disappointment.