Search the Site with

General Characteristics

Crew List

Memorabilia

Awards

History

USS Boston today

Image Gallery

to end of page

USS Boston (SSN 703)

USS BOSTON was the 16^th nuclear powered attack submarine in the LOS ANGELES-class. She was last homeported in Groton, CT., and after being decommissioned she was berthed at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash. for the next two years until taken from its berth at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard on October 31, 2001. BOSTON then went to the drydock where the scrapping commenced. Scrapping was completed in January 2002. The USS BOSTON Shipmates, Inc. was however, able to save the sail and rudder for display. These sections went to the Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Military Park in Buffalo, NY for display. BOSTON was the first LOS ANGELES-class submarine to be preserved in such a manner.

The BOSTON was the seventh ship in the Navy named after the city of Boston, Mass.

USS BOSTON finished her last successful deployment on November 16, 1998, when she returned home to Groton, CT., after she had participated in Exercise UNITAS 39 from July 8 to November 10. UNITAS is a yearly, multinational naval deployment exercise. Every year since 1960, several United States Navy vessels have circumnavigated the South American continent, participating in maneuvers with local navies. This circumnavigation alternates each year between clockwise and counterclockwise.

Other US Naval Forces participating in the exercise included USS DOYLE (FFG 39), USS MOOSBRUGGER (DD 980), USS LA MOURE COUNTY (LST 1194) and the USCGC MOHAWK.

back to top

go to the end of the page

back to top

go to the end of the page

Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS BOSTON. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

• Click here to view the list.

back to top

go to the end of the page

• Click here to see which USS BOSTON memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

back to top

go to the end of the page

Awards of USS BOSTON:

back to top

go to the end of the page

The following two photos and the patch were sent to us by Bruce McCausland, plankowner of the USS BOSTON (SSN 703). The first photo (left) shows the BOSTON in Groton, CT., in 1982 or 1983. The second photo (right) shows the submarine during a port visit to Fremantle, Australia, in September 1983 during its maiden deployment.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS BOSTON History:

USS BOSTON was a Flight I LOS ANGELES-class nuclear-powered attack submarine built by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics at Groton, Connecticut, and served in the United States Atlantic Fleet from her commissioning on January 30, 1982, until her decommissioning on November 19, 1999. She was the sixteenth LOS ANGELES-class attack submarine and the seventh U.S. warship to carry the name of the city of Boston, Massachusetts. Her contract was awarded on December 10, 1973, her keel was laid down at Groton on August 11, 1978, and she was launched on April 19, 1980, with Karen Hidalgo, wife of Secretary of the Navy Edward Hidalgo, acting as sponsor. By December 1981, the nearly complete submarine was undergoing inclining and stability experiments at Electric Boat, and early photographs from January 1982 show her on trials in the North Atlantic off New England.

On January 30, 1982, USS BOSTON was commissioned at Groton with Captain Jon M. Barr in command. She joined the Atlantic Fleet with Groton/New London as her homeport and began the usual sequence of post-commissioning activities: final sea trials, crew certification and tactical work-ups in the waters off New England. Early images show her alongside at Groton in 1982-1983, reflecting a period in which she alternated between short at-sea periods and time in port for post-shakedown maintenance and fine-tuning of new systems. The ship's early emphasis on personnel programs and engineering readiness is reflected in the fleet-level awards she soon began to accumulate. Even in her first full year in service she was already being singled out for excellence in manning and engineering performance.

In 1983, USS BOSTON undertook her first major deployment, a roughly seven-month voyage that circumnavigated the globe. A later official news release by Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet characterized this maiden cruise explicitly as a seven-month deployment around the world and noted that it was the first of nine major deployments completed during the submarine's career. During this extended cruise, BOSTON transited from the Atlantic into the Pacific and Indian Oceans and back again, giving her crew experience in a wide range of climates and operating areas at the height of the Cold War. Open sources and crew recollections indicate that the route included a transit of the Panama Canal, an Indian Ocean deployment phase and a visit to Diego Garcia, all typical waypoints for U.S. submarines operating with the Seventh Fleet and the Indian Ocean task forces of the early 1980s. Photographic evidence confirms that during this maiden deployment BOSTON visited Fremantle, Australia, in September 1983, and veterans mention additional liberty stops at Perth and Hobart, underscoring the world-spanning nature of the cruise and the opportunity for the ship to engage with key regional partners in the Indian Ocean and southwestern Pacific.

The period from March 28, 1983, to September 28, 1984, was later recognized with a Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, indicating that BOSTON's performance during her maiden deployment and the months that followed met a high standard of operational effectiveness. The same period saw her win the CINCLANTFLT Golden Anchor for personnel programs and a Red "E" for engineering excellence in 1983, followed in 1984 by a Battle Efficiency "E" and nomination for the Arleigh Burke Award for greatest improvement in battle efficiency in the Atlantic Fleet.

These awards suggest that after her return to Groton from the world cruise, BOSTON continued an intense program of inspections, tactical training and local operations in the western Atlantic and off the U.S. east coast, consolidating her crew's experience from the deployment and demonstrating high readiness across engineering, combat systems and personnel retention. Although detailed patrol information for 1984 remains classified, the combination of unit awards and efficiency ribbons points to a busy schedule of antisubmarine warfare (ASW) exercises and fleet support missions typical of LOS ANGELES-class submarines in the closing decade of the Cold War.

In 1985, USS BOSTON operated across the North Atlantic and European waters as part of the ongoing NATO maritime posture against the Soviet Navy. A contemporary survey of U.S. naval operations records her making a port visit to Portsmouth, England, from May 17 to May 21, 1985, a typical liberty and logistics stop for U.S. submarines participating in North Atlantic exercises and ASW operations with NATO partners. During this period, BOSTON again earned a Battle Efficiency "E", a repeat Red "E" for engineering, a Green "C" for communications excellence, a Silver Anchor award for personnel programs and another Meritorious Unit Commendation covering the fiscal year ending September 30, 1985.

Taken together, these awards indicate that in the mid-1980s, BOSTON had firmly established a reputation as a consistently high-performing attack submarine, maintaining strong retention and welfare programs, reliable engineering performance and effective tactical employment in fleet exercises.

Through 1986 and 1987, BOSTON remained in the Atlantic Fleet, continuing a cycle of local operations, periodic longer deployments and special test and evaluation work. She received additional Green "C" and Red "E" awards in 1986, reflecting sustained strength in communications and engineering. In 1987, she added a Yellow "M" for medical excellence, as well as further Silver and Golden Anchor-related recognition for personnel programs, suggesting that the boat's medical department and command leadership were maintaining a notably high standard of crew care and retention during demanding operational tempos.

During these years, BOSTON also took part in advanced weapons testing. The 1987 chronology of the attack submarine USS HYMAN G. RICKOVER (SSN 709) notes that RICKOVER acted as an Advanced Capability (ADCAP) torpedo target submarine for BOSTON during torpedo tests off Puerto Rico, while also supporting Tomahawk cruise missile testing - evidence that BOSTON was one of the fleet units used to validate and refine new torpedo and missile capabilities at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center and nearby ranges. A 1987 command history for USS PROVIDENCE (SSN 719) similarly records that PROVIDENCE served as a test target for BOSTON during ADCAP trials at AUTEC, underlining BOSTON's role in integrating new undersea weapons into the operational fleet.

In the late 1980s, as the Cold War moved toward its final phase, USS BOSTON continued to operate primarily in the Atlantic, conducting deployments and exercises whose specific details remain largely classified but that are reflected in her continuing stream of readiness awards. She received the CINCLANTFLT Golden Anchor again in 1988 and a Silver Anchor in 1989, indicators of sustained excellence in crew retention and personnel programs at a time when the submarine force was working to keep experienced sailors amid high operational demands.

In 1990, BOSTON earned another Green "C" for communications, suggesting continued emphasis on reliable tactical communications and interoperability with surface forces and maritime patrol aircraft. Crew recollections from this era refer to a "northern run" and Blue Nose ceremonies, indicating that at least one of BOSTON's late-Cold-War or early post-Cold-War deployments carried her across the Arctic Circle, a traditional milestone for Atlantic submarines operating in northern waters and a sign of continuing under-ice and high-latitude operations even as geopolitical tensions were changing.

Following the end of the Cold War in 1991, BOSTON adapted to the evolving missions of the U.S. submarine force in a world no longer dominated by U.S.-Soviet confrontation. In 1991, she received the Supply Blue "E" for logistics excellence and another Meritorious Unit Commendation for a specific period between July 15 and September 7, 1991, reflecting a deployment or major operation in which logistics and overall performance were deemed particularly noteworthy. While open sources do not detail the precise nature of this deployment, the timing coincides with the immediate post-Gulf-War era, when U.S. naval forces were heavily engaged in enforcing sanctions, monitoring Middle Eastern waters and maintaining visible presence in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic. BOSTON's recognition for supply, as well as her broader unit commendation, suggests that she was able to sustain high operational readiness and support during prolonged periods away from homeport in this transitional period.

In 1993, USS BOSTON received a White Tactical "T", emphasizing tactical proficiency and reflecting the submarine's performance in tactical readiness evaluations and exercises during the early 1990s. The following year, 1994, saw the submarine involved in operations that resulted in the award of two Armed Forces Service Medal - equivalent recognitions, recorded in official awards tables as a Coast Guard Unit Commendation credited to BOSTON for the periods March 11-26 and April 18-May 1, 1994. These awards indicate participation in a qualifying non-combat operation with a joint or interagency character, though public sources do not specify the exact theater or mission. At the same time, non-official summaries and veteran sources describe a 1994 deployment that took BOSTON into the Mediterranean, consistent with broader U.S. naval activity in that region in support of post-Cold-War peacekeeping and sanctions operations. Within the limits of available open information, it is clear that by the mid-1990s BOSTON had shifted from purely Cold War deterrence and ASW missions toward a mixture of regional presence, joint operations and support to multinational efforts.

The mid-1990s marked the high point of USS BOSTON's reputation within the Atlantic Fleet. In 1995, the submarine received a Battle Efficiency "E" and the prestigious Arleigh Burke Award for the greatest improvement in battle efficiency in the Atlantic Fleet, along with a Meritorious Unit Commendation whose citation period extended from November 1, 1995, to December 1, 1996.

In 1996 she again won the Battle "E" and in that same year she received the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award as the most battle-ready ship in the Atlantic Fleet - a fleet-wide honor not limited to submarines. These recognitions, covering everything from tactical performance to overall readiness and improvement, underscore that in the mid-1990s BOSTON was considered one of the most capable and well-run submarines in the Atlantic. Behind these awards lay a demanding program of exercises, inspections and deployments whose specific details remain largely unreleased, but whose intensity is evident from the succession of commendations.

By 1997, BOSTON had added a Joint Meritorious Unit Commendation, reflecting service under a joint command structure - likely in support of multinational or interagency operations - as well as a red "DC" for damage control excellence. These awards point to continued evolution of the submarine's mission toward joint operations and complex training scenarios in which survivability, casualty response and coordination with other services and nations were increasingly important. During the same period, she continued to operate from Groton, conducting Atlantic and possibly Mediterranean deployments.

USS BOSTON's final deployment was both geographically distinctive and emblematic of this post-Cold-War emphasis on multinational cooperation. On July 8, 1998, she departed to take part in UNITAS 39-98, the long-running annual series of naval exercises with South American navies. BOSTON joined the U.S. Task Force 138, a group built around the frigate USS DOYLE (FFG 39), the destroyer USS MOOSBRUGGER (DD 980), the tank landing ship USS LA MOURE COUNTY (LST 1194) and the Coast Guard cutter USCGC MOHAWK. The task force conducted a clockwise circumnavigation of South America, spending approximately four months conducting combined operations - including at-sea exercises, amphibious drills and riverine training - with the navies of multiple South American nations before completing the exercise on November 10, 1998.

During the course of UNITAS 39, BOSTON operated in a variety of operating environments, from blue-water ASW and anti-surface warfare exercises in the Atlantic and Pacific approaches to South America to more constrained coastal operations off both east and west coasts of the continent. Photographic evidence shows her alongside at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, in August 1998, reflecting at least one U.S. port visit during the deployment. On November 16, 1998, BOSTON returned to Groton, completing what contemporary summaries described as her ninth major deployment and her second circumnavigation of a continent - the first having been the world cruise in 1983.

Her Navigation "N" award for 1998, combining red and green indicators, reflects the skill demanded in safely navigating a nuclear submarine through the varied waters and ports of such a deployment. By this time, broader budgetary and force-structure decisions were shaping BOSTON's fate. As one of the earlier LOS ANGELES-class submarines she was a candidate either for mid-life nuclear refueling and life extension or for retirement as part of post-Cold-War drawdowns. In the end, she, like several of her near-sisters, was selected for inactivation without refueling as a cost-saving measure. An official news release from January 15, 1999, announced that after nearly seventeen years of service, USS BOSTON would be honored in an inactivation ceremony at Naval Submarine Base New London on January 18, 1999.

The same release noted that she had completed nine major deployments "to all corners of the globe", with the first a seven-month circumnavigation and the last the 1998 UNITAS cruise around South America, and catalogued her major honors: one Joint Meritorious Unit Commendation, four Meritorious Unit Commendations, three Battle Efficiency "E" awards, three Golden Anchor awards, three Silver Anchor awards and the Arleigh Burke Trophy.

Following the inactivation ceremony, BOSTON remained at New London briefly before, as the same release forecast, slipping her moorings on February 5, 1999, to head west for Pearl Harbor, where her formal decommissioning would be carried out. On November 19, 1999, she was officially decommissioned and stricken from the Naval Vessel Register, ending her active naval career after just under eighteen years in commission. She then proceeded to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at Bremerton, Washington, where she was laid up pending entry into the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program. According to fleet summaries, ex-BOSTON entered the recycling program on October 1, 2001, and was moved into dry dock on October 31, 2001, for dismantling. The process was completed during 2002.

Unlike most of her class, however, substantial portions of USS BOSTON were preserved as a memorial. Through the efforts of USS BOSTON Shipmates, Inc., the submarine's sail and upper rudder were removed intact prior to final disposal and transported to the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park in Buffalo, New York. There, they were installed as a major outdoor exhibit representing the LOS ANGELES-class and the Cold War submarine force, making BOSTON the first submarine of her class to have major structural components preserved in this way. Today, the sail and rudder stand on the Buffalo waterfront alongside other preserved vessels.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS BOSTON today:

USS BOSTON was decommissioned on November 19, 1999. On October 31, 2001, BOSTON went to the drydock where the scrapping commenced. Scrapping was completed in January 2002. The USS BOSTON Shipmates, Inc. was however, able to save the sail and rudder for display. These sections went to the Buffalo & Erie County Naval & Military Park in Buffalo, NY for display. BOSTON was the first LOS ANGELES-class submarine to be preserved in such a manner.

On the first photo the rudder foundation still needs to be dug for the exhibit and the installed. Also, there is still much welding, installation of plate covers and painting needs to be done. The second photo was taken on April 24, 2004. The next step in the project is tackling the mounting of the rudder in the display. Both photos were taken by Bruce McCausland.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS BOSTON Image Gallery:

back to top

Back to Submarines list.

Back to ships list.

Back to selection page.

Back to 1^st page.