OLIVER HAZARD PERRY

This vessel will be transformed into the Ocean State’s (Rhode Island) very own Tall Ship, a three-masted, square-sailed behemoth that will tower over Newport Harbor and lay claim to being one of the largest classic sailing vessels in the country. “It will be the largest privately owned sailing vessel on the East Coast of the United States. The only larger active sailing vessel is the Coast Guard’s Eagle. The $4-million ship will be named the Oliver Hazard Perry after the Newport-born Navy commodore who played a key role in defeating Britain in the War of 1812. Fittingly, the hull was intended to become a replica of the Detroit, one of the British ships that Perry defeated in earning the nickname the “Hero of Lake Erie.” The 207-foot Oliver Hazard Perry won’t be a replica. Instead, it will be designed to resemble ships of the 1812 period and is expected to be completed for bicentennial celebrations of the war beginning in four years. Its primary mission, however, will be training youths in the long tradition of sailing. The Oliver Hazard Perry would carry about 30 to 40 sail trainees and a crew of 10 to 15. Once all the work is done, the ship will tie up at Bowen’s Wharf and begin its mission –– sail training. It will be in and out of Newport regularly, in the winter, anticipated to sail the Caribbean, doing programming down there with schools and colleges. The Oliver Hazard Perry would probably participate in commemorations of the War of 1812, including the battle on Lake Erie in 1813.