Could USS Constitution be called a battlecruiser?

Does the heavy frigate logic make USS Constitution a kind of battlecruiser?

Conceptually, yes: the ship belongs to the same long-running idea of outrunning stronger opponents and overpowering weaker ones, though battlecruiser is a later label.

The comparison works at the level of design philosophy rather than formal period classification. Heavy frigates sought the same favorable choice of engagement later associated with battlecruisers. Constitution's historical label remains frigate, but the underlying logic predates Jackie Fisher by centuries. The ship therefore connects age-of-sail cruising warships with later capital-ship debates.