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BOSTON (July 23, 2017) USS Constitution is held in place by temporary shoring while water floods Dry Dock One at the Boston Navy Yard. Over the past 26-months, Constitution has undergone an extensive restoration that will help to preserve America’s Ship of State for many decades to come. (U.S. Navy photo by Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Erin Bullock/Released)
BOSTON – The world’s oldest commissioned ship, the U.S. Navy’s USS Constitution, left the dry dock last weekend after two years of restoration work at the Boston Navy Yard.
The USS Constitution was one of six original frigates Congress authorized to be built in 1794 and she was launched on October 21, 1797.
Currently, approximately 15 percent of the ship is original material from the 1790s, including the keel.
Over the past two years, ship restorers and riggers from Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment Boston:
– Replaced the lower hull planking and caulking
– Removed and replaced 2,200 sheets of copper
– Refurbished and replaced the ship’s rigging, upper masts, and yards
– Rebuilt sections of the cutwater and trailboards on the bow
– Refurbished and rebuilt the gun carriages
The ship will now return to her berth at Pier 1 West where more restoration work will continue. The ship is expected to open to the public in September.
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