Well they are Green - except for the sewage facilities ....

The Navy doesn't own those anymore.  Plus preserving a metal ship is quite problematic, and, eventually futile. Even mooring in fresh water would only slow down the inevitable.

I went aboard in 2014 for colors and the tour afterward. I asked the sailor giving the tour about the cannons on board and why they had a British crown mark on them. He told me they didn't know where the original cannon are. They made have been sold off as scrap or thrown into the bay. The ones on board now were made in the 1930's. I'm glad to have been able to go aboard with a great sense of pride in a significant piece of U.S.history.

https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/collections/research-library/faq/

"Today all of Constitution’s guns are replicas. All but two of the guns on board were cast in the 1920s and 30s. Two carronades aft on the spar deck were cast in 1983, based on a drawing of the weapons used during the War of 1812. Founder Henry Foxall cast the carronades in 1808, and these were on board when she was recommissioned in 1809. The Navy removed them after the Ship’s World Cruise in the 1840s. The incised “broad arrow” on some of the 24-pounders is a British mark, signifying that the gun was originally property of the (British) Crown. The other mark is called the “royal cipher:” GR for Georgius Rex (King George III). These replicas were cast about 1930, and the cipher/board arrow marks were based on bad information – Constitution’s guns did not carry these marks."

Darn thread made me tear up for some reason

It should be possible to beach these ships and build an exhibit for them on dry land.  Expensive, yes, but I value history more than Obamaphones.

 

The Navy has no responsibility for those ships.
They were given away to the various museums and state/county organizations.

Awesome book.

It has gone out under its own power once or twice in the last few decades but normally a tugboat takes it out.
2nd time in a century.

The pic of everyone picking out the debris and rolling the oakum is cool, lots of time is involved to form it.

I have maybe 50' or so along with a bunch of other tools in a shipvuilders chest I have from a guy that built wooden ships around the great Lakes in the 1800s
the old tools are so cool

Found it!

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=66594

Select NSA Crane Trees to Help Repair 'Old Ironsides'

      By Bill Couch, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Midwest Public Affairs    
          CRANE, Ind. (NNS) -- Representatives from the Boston Navy Yard assessed specially designated
trees at Naval Support Activity (NSA) Crane April 17 and 18 in
preparation for the next planned dry-docking repair of USS Constitution,
the world's oldest commissioned warship afloat.

Foreman Dwight Demilt, ship restorer and Robert Murphy production
manager, Naval History and Heritage Command's Boston Detachment hiked to
see several dozen white oak trees dispersed around the heavily forested
63,000-acre base in southern Indiana to determine which might be
suitable for repairing the unique warship.

"I'm very satisfied with the trees I've seen here," said Demilt, a
former Navy machinery repairman who also supported Constitution's last
dry-docking repair availability from 1991 to 1995 at the 211-year old
former Navy shipyard, now part of Boston National Historical Park, which
maintains Constitution.

"We're eager to support you," said Cmdr. James Stewart, commanding
officer of NSA Crane, to the visiting ship restorers. "The ship is such a
big deal, such an important part of the Navy's heritage, and Crane is
very proud to have this tie to Constitution and the 200th anniversary of
the War of 1812."

Although the actual dry-docking and repair is planned for 2014 through
2018, now was the time to begin the long process of identifying suitable
trees, harvesting, milling, shaping and finally installing them to
match Old Ironsides' original white oak.

Trent Osmon, forestry program manager for Naval Facilities Engineering
Command (NAVFAC) Midwest's Public Works Department (PWD) Crane
environmental division, believes the timing will be critical.

"We have a limited window each year to harvest timber here because
Crane's forest is also a home for the endangered Indiana Bat," said
Osmon, who manages the base's 53,000 acres of forest. "In order to have
the 70 or so trees cut and ready for repair work, we need to set things
in motion now."

Crane's forest, the largest contiguous forest under single ownership in
Indiana, currently includes nearly 150 GPS-located mature white oaks set
aside for future use by Constitution.


[rest at link]

I think your right.  Those are probably privately owned.  Would have been scrapped by the Navy.

It amazes me that the skill set still exists to maintain a ship like that.

Another example, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (Kittery, ME) has 3 drydocks.

I believe the USS Texas belongs to Texas Parks and Wildlife. 

Don't kid yourself. There's probably a (small) waiting line of skilled craftsmen waiting to work on that ship.
They are few, but they are still out there.

Actually, there are quite a number of modern day materials that could be applied to the hull & metal structures of these vessels in order to make them damn-near impervious to the ravages of the sea. (a thin coating of bed-liner material for example).

Just sayin,
FlDiveCop71

That will slow, but not stop dissimilar metallic corrosion.  Everywhere two pieces of metal touch, and they aren't EXACTLY identical, it will be corroding over time.

This makes long-term retention of a riveted ship basically impossible.

I was there and went aboard just a month ago.  It was very cool!

I believe it sailed under it's own power last in 2012.

Yep, I visited the Mayflower II restoration in Mystic Seaport, CT just a few days after touring the USS Constitution.  That was a really cool thing to see.  The wood selection and cutting in the yard is amazing.

The only rival, in my opinion, is a steam locomotive going balls out.

Definitely.

Been on board many times, it never gets old

Awesome post OP. Thanks.

I re-watched Master and Commander this weekend.

I wish there were more films that depicted strategy and tactics of the sailing war ships.

Das Boot, Red October, etc. are cool, but are there any that rank with Master and Commander?

The Admiral is on Netflix.  It goes into detail on how a Dutch Admiral won several engagements against the Royal Navy.  

ANOTHER feature of the above-linked documentary is about a British Navy Captain who just may have been the model for Jack Aubrey. They mention him as being a sort  of super-captain, who by guile won several engagements; IIRC he was the one who used the "floating cabin light" raft that was featured in "Master and Commander."