USS Constitution Returns to Boston’s Waters Following 2 Years of Repairs

The world’s oldest commissioned warship has now returned to the waters of the Boston Harbor.

The USS Constitution was undocked Sunday night after undergoing two years’ worth of repairs, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The wooden ship took its first voyage in 1797 and got its moniker “Old Ironsides” from the battles fought and won against five British war ships in the War of 1812.

“She is the oldest warship afloat in the world. She is the oldest sailing vessel in the world that can sail under her own power and she is the beginning of the United States Navy,” Margherita Desy, a historian at Naval History & Heritage Command Detachment Boston, told CBS Boston.

Desy adds that “Old Ironsides” is the last remaining warship of six ships created under the Naval Armament Act signed by former President George Washington.

The USS Constitution Museum held a celebration in honor of the ship’s undocking, and swarms of people gathered around Boston Harbor Sunday night to witness the ship float off the dry dock into the harbor.

Every 20 years, the ship enters dry dock for repairs to the bottom of the ship.

Over the past two years, workers replaced 100 hull planks and put in 2,200 new copper sheets. Nearly 100,000 museum visitors had the opportunity to sign 500 of those copper sheets, according to USS Constitution Museum President Anne Grimes Rand.

The ship is “a wonderful symbol for our democracy,” Rand said.

“It was meant to last for 10 or 20 years, and to have (the) ship here more than 200 years later, it needs constant care,” she added.

CBS News reports that the ship will undergo further restoration work until September, when it will re-open to the public for tours.