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Join us on July 23, as we celebrate “Old Ironsides’” much-anticipated return to the water! On that night, Dry Dock 1 will be filled and USS Constitution will float into Boston Harbor after a two year restoration. We invite you to participate in FREE family-friendly activities throughout the Navy Yard and in the USS Constitution Museum to celebrate thisRead more

Join us on July 23, as we celebrate “Old Ironsides’” much-anticipated return to the water! On that night, Dry Dock 1 will be filled and USS Constitution will float into Boston Harbor after a two year restoration. *                    *                    * ThereRead more

USS Constitution‘s bow has been variously decorated over the past 220 years. In Bow Decor, the different figureheads and billetheads were discussed. But the decoration didn’t stop there. The cutwater, which projects from the ship’s stem, has also been embellished. Gracing the curve of the cutwater are the trailboards, decorative elements that enhance the look ofRead more

Sometimes April showers bring May flowers, but not always. Twenty years ago, on April 1, 1997, Mother Nature delivered an April Fool’s Day blizzard. The destructive nor’easter had 70 mph winds and dropped 25.4 inches of snow on Boston. The day before the storm hit, the temperatures were in the 60s and USS Constitution was inRead more

Across USS Constitution‘s nearly 220-year history, her bow has been graced with several different carved decorations. An examination of those figureheads, billetheads and trailboards illustrate the changing look of “Old Ironsides” across the centuries. Hercules “Sheer, Half-breadth, and Body, U.S. Frigate Constitution”, Plan #14925. This 20th century copy of the 1794 plan of the 44-gunRead more

Since the summer of 2015, Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment Boston ship restorers and riggers have been working off and on with the rebuilding of USS Constitution‘s cutwater. The cutwater is a structure made up of several pieces of large timber and projects from the ship’s bow. It parts the water as the ship sails along, making herRead more

The materials used in rebuilding and restoring USS Constitution span from 45-foot-long, 12,000 pound white oak trees to three-inch copper pins. Currently, Stephen Nichols, blacksmith for the Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment Boston, is finishing the last of 468 hand-made copper pins that will hold protective bronze plates to the forward edge of Constitution‘s cutwater. Stephen Nichols worksRead more

You may have noticed a wooden roof being built over USS Constitution‘s bow. This temporary structure, which will be removed by the end of the restoration, will shield the area from winter weather as work continues on the cutwater, hull planking, and bow bulwarks. It’s not the first time that Constitution has had a temporary roof structure builtRead more