USS Constellation ( 1854 ) USS " Constellation " , constructed in 1854 , is a sloop - of - war and the second United States Navy ship to carry the name . According to the US Naval Registry the original frigate was disassembled on 25 June 1853 in Gosport Navy Yard in Norfolk , Virginia , and the sloop - of - war was constructed in the same yard , possibly with a few recycled materials from the old frigate . " Constellation " is the last sail - only warship designed and built by the US Navy . Despite being a single - gundeck " sloop " , she is actually larger than her frigate namesake , and more powerfully armed with fewer but much more potent shell - firing guns . The sloop was launched on 26 August 1854 and commissioned on 28 July 1855 with Captain Charles H . Bell in command . Civil War . From 1855 – 1858 " Constellation " performed largely diplomatic duties as part of the US Mediterranean Squadron . She was flagship of the African Squadron from 1859 – 1861 . In this period she disrupted the African slave trade by interdicting three slave ship s and releasing the imprisoned Africans . " Constellation " spent much of the war as a deterrent to Confederate cruisers and commerce raiders in the Mediterranean Sea . Pre - World War I . After the Civil War , " Constellation " saw various duties such as carrying famine relief stores to Ireland and exhibits to the Paris Exposition Universelle ( 1878 ) . She also spent a number of years as a receiving ship ( floating naval barracks ) . World War I . After being used as a practice ship for Naval Academy midshipmen , " Constellation " became a training ship in 1894 for the Naval Training Center in Newport , Rhode Island , where she helped train more than 60 , 000 recruits during World War I . World War II . Decommissioned in 1933 , " Constellation " was recommissioned as a national symbol in 1940 by President Franklin Roosevelt ; by this time the ship had become widely confused with her famous predecessor of 1797 . She spent much of the Second World War as relief ( i . e . reserve ) flagship for the US Atlantic Fleet , but spent the first six months of 1942 as the flagship for Admiral Ernest J . King and Vice Admiral Royal E . Ingersoll . Post - war restoration . " Constellation " was again decommissioned on 4 February 1955 , and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 August 1955 – about 100 years and two weeks from her first commissioning . She was taken to her permanent berth – Constellation Dock , Inner Harbor at Pier 1 , 301 East Pratt Street , Baltimore , Maryland and designated a National Historic Landmark on 23 May 1963 , and she was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on 15 October 1966 . She is the last existing intact naval vessel from the American Civil War , and she was one of the last wind - powered warships built by the US Navy . She has been assigned the hull classification symbol IX - 20 . In 1994 " Constellation " was condemned as an unsafe vessel . She was towed to a drydock at Fort McHenry in 1996 , and her $ 9 million restoration project was completed in July 1999 . On 26 October 2004 , " Constellation " made her first trip out of Baltimore ' s Inner Harbor since 1955 . The trip to the U . S . Naval Academy in Annapolis lasted six days , and it marked her first trip to Annapolis in 111 years . Tours are regularly available , self - guided or with the assistance of staff . Nearly all of the ship is accessible , and about one - half of the lines used to rig the vessel are present ( amounting to several miles of rope and cordage ) . A cannon firing is demonstrated daily , and tour groups can also participate in demonstrations such as " turning the yards " and operating the capstan on the main deck to raise / lower cargo . The ship is now part of Historic Ships in Baltimore , which also operates the Coast Guard cutter , the World War II submarine , the , and the Seven Foot Knoll Light . " Constellation " and her companions are major contributing elements in the Baltimore National Heritage Area . Identity controversy . For some time there was controversy over whether or not the 1854 sloop was a new ship or a rebuilt version of the 1797 frigate . Much of the controversy was created when the city of Baltimore promoted the ship and even rebuilt sections of the ship to resemble the 1797 frigate . Geoffrey M . Footner maintained the view in his book , " USS Constellation : From Frigate to Sloop of War " , that she was in fact , the original frigate though greatly modified . Additionally , when the ship was to be rebuilt in the 1990s , naval historians who favored the theory that the ship was indeed the 1797 original relied on three main points : Supporting the position that they are different ships are the facts that the sloop was designed anew from the keel up ( without reference to the frigate ) and was planned to have been built even if the frigate had not been in the yard during that period . In March 1989 researchers Dana M . Wegner and Colan Ratliff from the David Taylor Research Center came upon the builder ' s half - hull model of " Constellation " in the U . S . Naval Academy Museum . This was important because half - hull models are only built for new designs , not rebuilds , and the use of half - hull models was introduced after 1797 . Besides evaluating the half model the researchers also reviewed all the evidence used in the debate to date , concluding with the help of FBI and BATF forensics that many of the rebuild supporting documents were forgeries . In 1991 they published their findings in a paper titled , " Fouled Anchors : The " Constellation " Question Answered " and concluded that they are different ships .