Constitution Gun Deck Guns

by John

First, what is a frigate?

Wikipedia gives the following..

A frigate (/ˈfrɪɡət/) is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.

The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and manoeuvrability, intended to be used in scouting, escort and patrol roles. The term was applied loosely to ships varying greatly in design. In the second quarter of the 18th century, the ‘true frigate’ was developed in France. This type of vessel was characterised by possessing only one armed deck, with an unarmed deck below it used for berthing the crew.

Late in the 19th century (British and French prototypes were constructed in 1858), armoured frigates were developed as powerful ironclad warships, the term frigate was used because of their single gun deck. Later developments in ironclad ships rendered the frigate designation obsolete and the term fell out of favour. During the Second World War the name ‘frigate’ was reintroduced to describe a seagoing escort ship intermediate in size between a corvette and a destroyer. After World War II, a wide variety of ships have been classified as frigates. Often there has been little consistency in usage. While some navies have regarded frigates as principally large ocean-going anti-submarine warfare (ASW) combatants, others have used the term to describe ships that are otherwise recognisable as corvettes, destroyers, and even nuclear-powered guided-missile cruisers. Some European navies use the term “frigate” for both their destroyers and frigates.[1] The rank “frigate captain” derives from the name of this type of ship.

USS Constitution, 1797, was classed as a “heavy frigate”. HMS Warrior, 1851, was twice as long and 5-6 times heavier than Constitution, was also technically a frigate.

Speed, manoeuverability, and a single gun deck seem to be the defining characteristics in the early 19th century, so that is what I am going with.

The Mamoli Constitution has a gun deck with 30 long guns. 24 pounders (24lb being the weight of the round shot). But it also has a spar deck above, with 22 carronades and 2 long guns. So how many gun decks does that add up to? Just wondering.

Anyway, I am now commencing the masts and rigging.

This is the barrel of one of the 24pr long guns. To the right are some of the deadeyes to which are attached fixed rigging to support a mast. (just sitting there at this time). Bear with me… I will get to the point of this post eventually. The muzzle of that barrel protrudes 10-11mm (depending on the barrel elevation.)


This is a 1:10 model of a 24pr long gun which I made years ago. In the full size 24pr’s about 1/3 of the 10′ length would protrude beyond the carriage. The sides of Constitution were said to be 21″ thick. So, if my arithmetic is correct, 1/3 of 120″, (40″) minus 21″ equals 19″ of barrel protruding beyond the hull sides. At 1:93 scale that equals less than 1/4″ or more precisely 5.2mm.
These are the 24pr long guns supplied by Mamoli. I have cut off casting sprue, and then sanded them in the lathe. I also drilled the bore to a more visually appealing length. They were black in the packet, (intentional or just aged?) and sanding revealed the copper or brass plating over the soft base casting metal. Since the gun deck is not visible, there are no carriages for the gun deck guns.

But, from the pictures and calculations above, they protrude too far outside the hull!

So, I intend to shorten them, probably by about 4-5mm.

I have not yet decided whether to leave them with the brass colour or paint them black. Decorative vs. authenticity again.

And on the decorative vs. authenticity again, here is the model’s transom, with the bling added….

Hmm. Not sure about this. The photo flash makes the transom planks appear lighter than they really are, but even so, black and white would probably have looked better here than the gold and natural wood.

The kit came with only 4 stars, and I dropped one. Despite exhaustive searches, I never found it. So I searched the net and found a supplier with stars the correct size and number of points, and I purchased a packet. They are intended to be stuck to small girls’ fingernails, and were very glittery, so I applied some ordinary gold paint to get a more sedate appearance. I will straighten the name plate later. Annoying me.

And another thing. those gun port hatches with covers open into the captain’s quarters. Not sure about Constitution, but many captain’s rooms were cleared of furniture and partition walls when preparing for a battle, to extend the gun deck, but would the windows have been permanently covered with gun port lids? Maybe I should have ignored the Mamoli plans in this regard and glued the gun port lids to the upper 3 openings on the spar deck, and made windows for the lower ones. Anyone have information about this?

Finally, in preparing to commence the rigging I have checked the Mamoli supplied ropes. They are OK, but I am intending to make my own with a rope making machine. There are plenty of rope machine designs available, and I do have the equipment and expertise to make one. There should be something to post soon. Meanwhile SWMBO directed me to a shop which I have never before entered. It is as big as a large supermarket, and full of goods and materials for users of fabrics, embroidery, knitting. Even ship modellers. I think that I was the only XY human in the entire shop. “Spotlight”. I was directed to the “yarns” section. No long stories. Just a lot of spools of threads of different materials, colours, weights. I purchased some cotton in 800m lengths, black and brown. Then spent time examining various tools for embroidery and crocheting which should be useful in manipulating the “ropes” around the Constitution rigging. More on that later.