USS Constellation

In 1794 the Congress approved building six warships for the new nation's Navy. The six 38-gun frigates were designed to be capable of engaging any ships of the British or French navies.

The ships would be named United States, Constellation, Constitution, Chesapeake, Congress and President. (The restored USS Constitution, with a Navy crew, is afloat in Boston harbor and is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world.)

The name Constellation has been carried by three commissioned U.S. warships, with the last being an aircraft carrier. The name refers to the constellation created by the circle of stars on the first U.S. flag.

The last Constellation's keel was laid down on Sept. 14, 1957, with final construction and outfitting to the Navy and commissioning completed on Oct. 27, 1961. The ship cost $264.5 million, and was nicknamed Connie by its crew. Transferred to the Pacific fleet in the summer 1962, Connie reached Hong Kong on July 27, 1964, and was transferred to the Gulf of Tonkin, off Vietnam, a few days later.

The carrier reached the Gulf on Aug. 4, two days after the alleged Gulf of Tonkin incidents, and immediately began launching aircraft to cover the destroyers involved. On Aug. 5 Connie launched aircraft to attack North Vietnamese oil facilities and ships. Two aircraft were lost and the pilot of one, LTJG. Everett Alvarez Jr., became the longest held U.S. POW of the Vietnam War. Air operations continued until the Connie returned to San Diego on Feb. 1, 1965. The ship would return to Vietnam for five additional tours with the last ending in 1972.

The USS Constellation later moved to stations off Korea and to the Mideast after the Iranian attack and seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979. The ship returned to the Mideast when the Iranians threatened Kuwaiti shipping in 1987. The ship's 21st and final deployment in 2003 was in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom with her aircraft flying 1,500 sorties and dropping 1.7 million pounds of ordnance.

The Department of Defense issued a news release stating that the aircraft carrier USS Constellation (CV-64) has been sold for scrap. The Connie, her career over, is en route to Brownsville, Texas, for dismantling.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He resides in Chaffee, Missouri.