My guess is…zero. The ship was reconstructed several times (my uncle has an ash tray made from copper removed from the ship in 1927, during rebuilding). Wood rots, and most of the hull probably has been replaced several times.
So, is the ship like your grandaddy’s axe? (head replaced, handle replaced)?
The ship was “sailed” last weekend…a few sails were set, but it looked like a tug did most of the work.
Some of the metal bits might be original. The brass should have held up reasonably well. But no way in hell is any of the wood orginal.
Congratulations, Ralph. Plutarch asked the same question almost two thousand years ago.
It gets tugged out into the harbor pretty often (at least every year). But this week it did indeed sail under its own power for a short distance, for only the second time or so since the 19th century.
A tour of the Constitution, IMO, is a must-see for anyone visiting the Boston area. It’s an amazing look into the late 18th/early 19th century naval culture.
I would have actually thought it was a higher percentage than that. It doesn’t mention fixtures, fittings, guns, etc. though.
Mike
Great tour, did it just a couple of months ago. Yeah, it was explained that they drag it out once a year to keep it on the list of commissioned military warships. Next year, it’s supposed to go out in full sail; should be a grand sight.
The other reason for dragging it out once a year is to flip it so the sides weather evenly. (horizontal flip, not vertical - though that would be awesome)
Ditto (I was there in April), and the museum is great too. My kids had a blast doing all of the interactive sailor-play (and we got a picture of our one-year-old appearing to shoot a cannon).
I’ve done the tour a few times. If you look closely at some of the cannons, you’ll see that some have arrows cast in the barrel pointing toward the hole. The navy guide explained that was to make sure that if the ship was carrying Marines, they’d know which way to point the cannon.
The museum on shore is neat too-you get to understand what being a sailor was like-lots of beans, salt pork, and sauerkraut. Most sailors wold break up their hardtack with a hammer, and soak the fragments in water (the hardtack cold chip your teeth…if you had any left, after the ship’s surgeon got through with you)
I’m surprised the keel is original…I mean, that’s in the water all the time, how has it not rotted off?
How Much of the USS Constitution Is Original?
Probably not much - it’s had a whole lot of amendments over the years.
The Constitution has copper plate covering everything below the water line, which greatly reduces the “rotting”. I think a little water can get through the sheathing, but bigger marine critters like barnacles and shipworms cannot. Though I am not entirely sure if the copper sheathing was part of the original construction or added at a later date.
Also, the keel and other major structural bits are made out of the densest, choicest wood. Basically the shipbuilders go into old-growth live oak forests and find the best possible keel-shaped tree, particularly for such an important ship like the Constitution.
I *think * that the copper also is toxic to most marine critters, so even if they get to the wood through a gap in the plating, they’ll get poisoned by the slowly dissolving copper around them.
Yeah, but you know how those constitution originalists are… always pining for the past (or is it oak?) 
Oak, and white oak at that (nice try though. 
)
On edit, here are the woods listed in the bill of materials for the 1992-1995 restoration:
LIVE OAK TIMBER
WHITE OAK TIMBER:
DOUGLAS FIR TIMBER, UNTREATED: PLANKING
DOUGLAS FIR TIMBER, UNTREATED:DECKING
WHITE OAK GLUED LAMINATES, UNTREATED: TIMBERS
WHITE OAK GLUED LAMINATES, UNTREATED: KNEES
DOUGLAS FIR GLUED LAMINATES, UNTREATED
DOUGLAS FIR, GLUED LAMINATED, TREATED (ACZA)
Anyone else find that kind of funny?
No?
OK then, back to the topic.
Plywood? TREATED plywood? Not even pretty birch ply but fir ply, the ugliest wood substitute out there that isn’t skinned with plastic woodgrain?
As for the keel, are there any old-enough-growth oak trees left to make a keel?
We toured the ship a month ago, and as mikemo said, our Navy guide told us that 10-15% of the ship is estimated to be original.
In 1997, on its 200th anniversary, it sailed 16 miles north to the Town of Marblehead, to honor the Town’s being the Birthpace of the American Navy, where thenew navy’s first ship, the Schooner Hannah was built.