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The reason the US Navy owns a forest preserve in Indiana is docked in Charlestown
By adamg on Tue, 11/17/2020 - 9:20am
Indiana might seem an odd place for a naval station, but some 5,000 Navy personnel work on a base in Crane, IN. Most deal with weapons systems, but the 97-square-mile base also has a stand of white oak trees - solely to provide timber for repairs to the USS Constitution.
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Comments
broken link for Constitution Grove
The "solely to provide timber for repairs" link didn't work for me? Should it be: https://taskandpurpose.com/mandatory-fun/constitution-grove-indiana-navy...
Fixed
Thanks!
Dead link(?)
Dead link(?)
Indiana has a lakefront
It's not a very long stretch of Lake Michigan, and it's nowhere near the town of Crane, but it does exist.
Indiana Dunes
There's both a national park and a state park covering the remains of the Indiana Dunes near Lake Michigan. When we lived in Hyde Park (southern Chicago, as opposed to southern Boston) eons ago, we could take the train directly from our house to the Dunes. Really a wonderful place to visit.
Slightly Off Topic
Someone used to sell posters on a cart at the South Shore Plaza of an old railroad ad saying "Take The Train to the Dunes of the South Shore" using a Chicago RR ad to dupe people into thinking it was Scituate.
A 'not glamour' shot of the Constitution.
Barracks
It was used for sleeping for a long time.
I think the upper part was removed for its 100th year.
Interesting that they chose
Interesting that they chose indiana. Historically, Didn't a lot of the great ship timber lumber come from Georgia?
... Or was that stock completely used up?
Live Oak
The trees in Georgia are Live Oak, a different species. Both Live Oak and White Oak were used to build and refit the USS Constitution.
Not all oak is alike
Red oak is strong and will take a beating, but it isn't rot resistant. Yellow pine is quite strong and is good for decking, etc.
White oak has closed cells and is quite rot resistant because water tends to not penetrate it.
It's like closed cell foam as opposed to open cell foam, only in wood.
Part of what made the USS Constitution so strong was the construction itself. It was built by good shipwrights that knew building details and wood.
Oh, if you're in an old New England house, even in Boston, like an old three decker and it has the original wood floors, look at the grain carefully. It's probably longleaf pine.
Longleaf pine
That's what we have. Apparently almost none is still growing. So one has to take good care of one's floors. ;-)
Better Link
Google seems to be having issues - here's a non-AMP link:
https://taskandpurpose.com/mandatory-fun/constitution-grove-indiana-navy
"Live" versus "White" Oak
When they did that last major renovation of the ship I remember reading about how they were using live oak to repair her and how difficult it was to acquire it. Looking at the chart below, it seems that the ship uses both live and white oak, just for different parts of the ship.
Source: https://www.woodmagazine.com/materials-guide/lumbe...
Accurate! I was an intern at
Accurate! I was an intern at the museum and got to touch the keel over 18 years ago. The only part of her that’s still original. Live oak comes from the south. It’s what produced her nickname old Ironsides. It’s incredibly dense and heavy. One of the few types of wood that sink in water.