215 years old and still ready for duty.
A ship like this deserves a better Commander in Chief than the one we have now.
A leaky rowboat deserves a better commander in chief than we have.
Sadly, it could outlive its namesake...
Almost not if not for a father who is somewhat overshadowed by a more famous son. In 1830, the US Navy was discussing sending this ship to the breakers, until a failing Harvard Law student published a poem in protest.
Ay, tear her tattered ensign down!
Long has it waved on high,
And many an eye has danced to see
That banner in the sky;
Beneath it rung the battle shout,
And burst the cannon's roar;--
The meteor of the ocean air
Shall sweep the clouds no more.
Her deck, once red with heroes' blood,
Where knelt the vanquished foe,
When winds were hurrying o'er the flood,
And waves were white below,
No more shall feel the victor's tread,
Or know the conquered knee;--
The harpies of the shore shall pluck
The eagle of the sea!
Oh, better that her shattered hulk
Should sink beneath the wave;
Her thunders shook the mighty deep,
And there should be her grave;
Nail to the mast her holy flag,
Set every threadbare sail,
And give her to the god of storms,
The lightning and the gale!
Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.