The Shipyard on the Charles

The early morning sun of June 24, 1833 sparkled on the gold epaulets and braids of blue naval uniforms. The officers and men of Charlestown Navy Yard, joined by a distinguished company that included Vice President Martin Van Buren, Secretary of War Lewis Cass, Secretary of the Navy Levi Woodbury, and many Massachusetts officials, were present to witness one of the great events of American naval history: the United States frigate Constitution, "Old Ironsides" to millions of Americans, was inaugurating the first naval drydock in New England. One hundred and forty-two years later water again swirled in the same drydock, slowly covering the wooden blocks and shores on which Constitution rested. On March 14, 1975 the historic ship floated out of the dock--the last commissioned vessel to use the famous facility.
Operations in the navy yard itself began some 40 years before the drydock was first put to use. In 1799 the United States was engaged in a naval war with France, and Congress called for the building of six ships-of-the-line, the battleships of the day, to protect American commerce from French attacks. Two years later Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Stoddert bought sites in six cities in which the ships could be built. The one in Charlestown became the Boston Navy Yard. It was primarily used as a storage facility until the War of 1812, but during that war the yard completed the Navy's first ship-of-the-line, the 74 gun Independence.

For the whole story visit: http://www.nps.gov/bost/bost_lographics/cnyhist.htm