Big baadda boom Leeloo Dallas multipass

July 19, 2010 3:32 PM

Every few days there is a huge BOOM! that seems to emanate from Boston Harbor. It really echoes throughout downtown. What causes it?
posted by Admiral Haddock to Grab Bag (18 answers total)

Best answer: The USS Constitution firing its cannons, perhaps?
posted by jquinby at 3:44 PM on July 19, 2010

Could it be a fighter jet's sonic boom?
posted by dfriedman at 3:49 PM on July 19, 2010

Best answer: The USS Constitution firing its cannons, perhaps?

You are right.

Twice daily, a cannon fires a 'saluting battery' from the gun deck of the USS Constitution at the Charlestown Navy Yard. One of these is to mark nautical twilight/sunset.

The ceremony dates back to 1798.
posted by ericb at 4:29 PM on July 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

The other firing occurs at 8:00 a.m. on the USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") - our country's oldest commissioned ship still in service.
posted by ericb at 4:35 PM on July 19, 2010

The Liberty (the tourist schooner out of Long Wharf) also fires cannons on a regular basis, and I agree - it is LOUD, and reverberates throughout the waterfront.
posted by ldthomps at 5:06 PM on July 19, 2010

Response by poster: OK--we've got a likely contender in Old Ironsides. I had considered a sonic boom, too, so this bears some confirmation. I will listen tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. to see if that's the sound, and that should decide it (I seem to have missed tonight's boom boom boom).
posted by Admiral Haddock at 5:34 PM on July 19, 2010

I went to school pretty close to there (read: extremely close) and I never heard those cannons go off. Just sayin'
posted by sully75 at 6:05 PM on July 19, 2010

I went to school pretty close to there (read: extremely close) and I never heard those cannons go off. Just sayin'

From jquinby's link: "The tradition dates back to 1787, although it stopped in the early 1900's until 1975."

Did you go to school there pre-1975?
posted by The Potate at 10:29 PM on July 19, 2010

I would doubt you are hearing sonic booms as there are few planes capable of such speeds regularly over the skies of Boston Harbor these days. We used to get daily sonic booms once the SST out of NYC reached cruising speed but those days are gone.
posted by birdwatcher at 3:49 AM on July 20, 2010

Response by poster: I listened for the Constitution this morning at 8:00, but did not hear it--and I live considerably closer to it than where I work (I live by North Station, but I work by South Station). So I'm not convinced that's it--and Sully's experience going to school around there is another fact to consider.

The Concorde is gone, but Hanscom is still nearby; that may be it.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 5:14 AM on July 20, 2010

There aren't really any military aircraft flying out of Hanscom. In fact, it has no flying force at all. Very occasionally, military craft will stop by for some reason or anything (the helicopters and Ospreys staged out of here for Marine Week).

Maybe it's noise from aircraft departing Logan - some of the departure procedures out of runways 22L and 22R put traffic right over the city, and the noise could be echoing off the skyscrapers.
posted by backseatpilot at 6:58 AM on July 20, 2010

I thought that there were fighter jets which patrolled the skies over the northeastern coast. Maybe there are but they fly too high for sonic booms to be heard on the ground...
posted by dfriedman at 7:33 AM on July 20, 2010

When I was involved with the Lifeboat in the UK, they used to use maroons (a rocket that makes a loud bang) to summon crews for a lifeboat launch.

Is it possible that it could be something like that?
posted by knapah at 7:39 AM on July 20, 2010

From jquinby's link: "The tradition dates back to 1787...

For accuracy's sake that reporter got it wrong. The USS Constitution was christened and launched on October 21, 1797.

FWIW -- listen again this evening when the cannon is fired at sunset: 8:26 p.m. I hear it every evening -- loud and clear.
posted by ericb at 8:24 AM on July 20, 2010

I went to school near there up until a few months ago. Never heard a cannon shot. School started at 8AM, often. Too often.
posted by sully75 at 9:09 AM on July 20, 2010

BTW -- from June 30 through July 5 there were numerous firings from the decks of the USS Constitution at varying times of the day during gun drills/demonstrations for Boston Navy Week.
posted by ericb at 9:43 AM on July 20, 2010

Response by poster: I was sitting at my desk and noted that I heard the big boom at 4:46 this afternoon, which I presume was not the Constitution. But I'll give it another listen tonight and tomorrow morning if I can.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 3:29 PM on July 20, 2010

Response by poster: Ach, I just heard a big boom and it's 8:16, right when one would expect the evening cannon shot. While I suppose this could be just a coincidence and the sound is coming from somewhere else, I'll call this one resolved. Thanks!
posted by Admiral Haddock at 5:17 PM on July 22, 2010