USS Constitution and the 'Old Ironsides' legend

The USS Constitution earned the nickname 'Old Ironsides' during the War of 1812 after observers reported British cannonballs seemed to bounce off her hull. Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.'s 1830 poem 'Old Ironsides' galvanized public sentiment to preserve the ship when it faced scrapping, and the vessel is now preserved and docked at the Charlestown Navy Yard. The ship and museum interpret both the wartime events and the later efforts that turned the nickname into a conservationist rallying point.