Sail of the USS Boston (SSN-703) (Buffalo, New York)

 museum, military, submarine, display, United States Navy

Laid down at Electric Boat in Groton, CT on August 11th, 1978, USS Boston commissioned into US Navy service as the 16th Los Angeles Class Nuclear Attack Submarine on January 30th, 1982.

Serving with the US Atlantic Fleet for her entire career, the Boston and her crew maintained a superb level of combat readiness and distinguished themselves on numerous occasions by meritorious service and outstanding performance. With the exception of 1992 and her final year in service, the Boston never went a year without at least one Naval award or commendation, culminating with her selection in 1996 as the Most Battle-Ready Ship in Atlantic Fleet.

Slated for a midlife refueling and overhaul around 2000, the US Navy opted to decommission the Boston rather than upgrade the sub, choosing to focus on maintaining the more advanced 668i Los Angeles Class subs and direct more funding to the construction of Virginia Class Submarines. Formally decommissioned on November 19th, 1999, the Boston was towed from the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Maine to the Bremerton Navy Yard in Washington where she entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program on October 1st, 2001.

Given her service record, the Navy retained the sail and upper rudder from the Boston's hull for preservation, which became the only remaining portion of the sub when her scrapping was declared complete on September 19th, 2002. Today her Sail is on display outside of the main entrance to the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park and was restored and painted during the summer of 2010.

www.buffalonavalpark.org/index.html
www.navsource.org/archives/08/08703.htm