BOSTON – USS Constitution is scheduled to get underway for the 2024 Chief of Naval Operations' Chief Petty Officer Heritage Training Weeks on Friday, September 20, at 10 a.m.
The ship will remain closed following the underway.
USS Constitution Sailors, alongside 120 Sailors selected for promotion to chief petty officer, will sail in Boston Harbor.
During Chief Petty Officer Heritage Weeks, the crew of USS Constitution will train over 220 newly selected chief petty officers in the same skills as 19th-century Sailors, including gun drills, pike drills, sailing, and musket drills, to foster meaningful leadership development.
For over 20 years, select Sailors advancing to chief petty officer have come to USS Constitution to spend a week living aboard "Old Ironsides," fully immersed in naval heritage.
A 21-gun salute will be fired, which can be viewed from Fort Independence on Castle Island at approximately 11:30 a.m. Additionally, USS Constitution will fire a 17-gun salute as she passes the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Boston, the former site of Edmund
Hartt’s Shipyard, where she was built and launched on October 21, 1797.
The cruise will be visible from the Boston Harborwalk, Castle Island, and the Charlestown Navy Yard. USS Constitution is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for public visitation.
USS Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat and America’s Ship of State. She played a crucial role in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812, actively defending sea lanes from 1797 to 1855.