USS Constitution Sets Sail for 2024 CNO Chief Heritage Weeks

BOSTON – USS Constitution is set to get underway on September 13 at 10 a.m. for the 2024 Chief of Naval Operations’ Chief Petty Officer Heritage Training Weeks.

Following the departure, the ship will be closed.

USS Constitution Sailors, along with 120 Sailors recently selected for chief petty officer promotion, will navigate Boston Harbor. During these Heritage Weeks, over 220 newly selected chief petty officers will be trained in 19th-century naval skills such as gun, pike, sailing, and musket drills to enhance leadership abilities.

For more than 20 years, selected Sailors advancing to chief petty officer have immersed themselves aboard “Old Ironsides,” living naval history.

A 21-gun salute will be fired, viewable from Fort Independence on Castle Island at around 11:30 a.m. Additionally, USS Constitution will deliver a 17-gun salute when passing U.S. Coast Guard Sector Boston, the former site of her construction and launch on October 21, 1797.

The cruise can be observed from Boston Harborwalk, Castle Island, and the Charlestown Navy Yard. 

USS Constitution is open to the public from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for visits.

USS Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat, served a critical role in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812, protecting sea routes from 1797 to 1855.