 With limited funds available, she experienced more deterioration over the years, and items began to disappear from the ship as souvenir hunters picked away at the more portable objects. In 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt placed her in permanent commission. General Bruce Magruder gave the nickname "Old Ironsides" to the 1st Armored Division of the United States Army in honor of the ship. In early 1941, she was assigned the hull classification symbol IX-21 and began to serve as a brig for officers awaiting court-martial. The United States Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating Constitution in 1947, and an act of Congress in 1954 made the Secretary of the Navy responsible for her upkeep.
