USS Constitution is Getting a Mast Makeover from qocsuing's blog

USS Constitution is Getting a Mast Makeover

The oldest warship afloat looked skeletal moored in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston with no sails.Get more news about military mast,you can vist our website!
A ship without sails is common for the modern Navy, but for USS Constitution, the sheets of advanced polyester designed to look like flax cloth are a crucial part of the 226-year-old frigate’s structure.

The reason for the bare look is Old Ironsides is going through a major repair, Constitution commander Cmdr. Billie June Farrell told USNI News. During the periodic review, the crew found rot in the masts, prompting the repairs, she said.

In order to complete fixes, the ship needed to be “downrigged” because the shrouds and rigging provide structural support to the frigate, Farrell said.The ship normally has three masts, each with four spars jutting out horizontally, and a fighting top platform on each. Rigging, including climbing nets, hangs from the masts.

Constitution is undergoing repairs to its mainmast, as well as the fighting top on the mainmast, Avionics Technician 2nd Class Julian Hedden told USNI News during a visit to the ship. Repairs are also being done on the spars to the mizzenmast, mainmast and portmast.

To repair the fighting top, construction crews under the Navy’s Maintenance and Repair supervision had to remove half of the mainmast, Hedden said.

Currently, the front and rear masts are missing their spars, as well as some of their rigging, although nets are still attached. And the mainmast, which is missing half, looks like a bare tree struck by lightning. The mast appeared largely untouched when USNI News visited in August.The ship instead has supportive stays to maintain its structure while the repairs are being done, Farrell said. Repairs are done by the Navy’s Maintenance and Repair division, through Naval History and Heritage Command Boston Detachment under the Naval Sea Systems Command.

Hedden arrived in February when repairs were getting underway, he said. In April, Maintenance and Repair crew members replaced Constitution’s helm, according to the Navy.

Downrigging began in May, according to a blog post from the USS Constitution Museum, which sits across the pier from the ship. Two dry docks separate the museum from the ship it memorializes. The Navy uses the dry docks to complete repairs on the ship, Farrell said, although the current repairs are being done pierside. Most repairs can be done while the ship is in water, but there are operations that require a dry dock, like between 2015 to 2017 when the copper hull was fixed.

For the current repairs, the main mast needed to be removed in order to get to the main topmast, the second part of the main mast, according to the museum blog. The topmast was made in 2009 from Douglas fir, while the new one will be made from southern yellow pine.