History Challenge 10/20/08
October 20th, 2008 | 
Author: This week’s prize is the book “Stealing Elections: How voter fraud threatens our democracy”
Launched on October 21st, 1797 this 44 gun U.S. Navy frigate was built to fight Barbary pirates off the coast of Tripoli. The vessel performed commendably during the Barbary conflicts, and in 1805 a peace treaty with Tripoli was signed on it’s deck. The vessel earned it’s nickname “Old Ironsides” in the war of 1812, for it’s engagement off the coast of Nova Scotia with the British warship GuerriÈre. Witnesses claimed that the British shots merely bounced off the it’s sides, as if the ship were made of iron rather than wood. Today, the vessel is the oldest commissioned warship afloat. Name this U.S. Navy Frigate.
Posted in History Challenge
