USS Constitution To Set Sail Once Again

BOSTON, MA — The USS Constitution is about to set sail for the first time in three years to celebrate the Navy's birthday and the anniversary of the Constitution's first launch.

The world's oldest commissioned warship will set sail from Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston on Oct. 20.

The wooden ship will travel to Fort Independence on Castle Island, where it will fire a 21-gun salute. An additional 17-gun salute will be fired as the ship passes the U.S. Coast Guard station, the former site of the shipyard where the Constitution was built and launched in 1797.

It will be the warship's first sail since October 2014, and commemorates the Navy's 242nd birthday and the 220th anniversary of the Constitution's launch.

The ship earned its nickname "Old Ironsides" during the War of 1812.

AP Photo/Steven Senne