"Noah Little" wrote in message
...
Diamond Jim wrote:
What are you? Landlubbers? Its a sailing ship! The wind goes from the
stern
(the back end) to the bow (the front end)

Spoken like a lifetime power boater. On a sailing vessel, the wind can
be from ahead or abaft the beam.

Most navy ships were square rigged, and didn't do much sailing against the
wind.

However several of us were discussing this last night, and one guy who used
to be at the Marine Barracks Boston, (Charleston Naval Shipyard) was very
familiar with the USS Constitution. He had even participated in
re-enactments on her and was part of the Marine detachment (in the rigging)
on the annual turn around. He said that the 'Charley Noble' rotated 360º,
presumably because of the wind factor.