Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution is a side quest in Fallout 4.
The Sole Survivor has been drafted by Ironsides to assist him and his robot crew in their quest to return the USS Constitution to the Atlantic Ocean.
Quick walkthrough
| Side quest: Last Voyage of the U.S.S. Constitution | |||||||||||||||||||
| Travel to the USS Constitution. Meet Lookout. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Meet the captain. | |||||||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Negotiate for a pre-payment. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 100 caps from the Ship's Purser. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Repulse the scavenger attack. | |||||||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Fire the cannons. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Talk with the Bosun. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Pick up the new power cables and replace the old ones. | (INT 3+) Jury rig a replacement. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Talk with the Bosun. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Find/buy a power relay coil and replace the old one. | (INT 5+) Jury rig a replacement. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Talk with Mr. Navigator. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Head back towards Bunker Hill. Talk to Mandy Stiles. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Refuse to side with the scavengers. | Agree to side with the scavengers. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Recover the NX-42 guidance chip and fight the scavengers. | Recover the NX-42 guidance chip without bloodshed. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Return on the ship's deck. Install the guidance chip. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Talk with Mr. Navigator. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 250 caps | |||||||||||||||||||
| Find a Poseidon radar transmitter and replace the old one. | (INT 9+) Jury rig a replacement. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Report to Mr. Navigator. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 250 caps | |||||||||||||||||||
| Talk with Ironsides. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: Captain's quarters key | |||||||||||||||||||
| Recover the FLL3 turbopump bearings. | |||||||||||||||||||
| The scavengers have been killed during the recovery of the guidance chip. | The scavengers are still alive. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Betray the scavengers. | Side with the scavengers. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Return to the USS Constitution. Install the the FLL3 turbopump bearings. | Take the turbopump bearing to Mandy. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Repulse the scavenger attack. | Install the the FLL3 turbopump bearings. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Report to Ironsides. | Report to Ironsides. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: Broadsider | Reward: 500 caps | ||||||||||||||||||
| Activate the auxiliary power circuit. | Activate the auxiliary power circuit. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 450 XP | |||||||||||||||||||
| Defeat Ironsides. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Travel to the ship's new location. | Talk with Mandy Stiles. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Talk with Ironsides. | Kill the scavengers. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: Lieutenant's hat | Reward: 450 XP | ||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough
- Head to the USS Constitution (east of Bunker Hill). As the player approaches the ship, Lookout will meet and tell them to head up into the ship and meet Ironsides on top of the USS Constitution.
- A 100 caps pre-reward can be bargained at this point.
- After talking to Ironsides, scavengers will attack and the player will need to deal with them.
- OPTIONAL: Fire the cannons.
- Hitting the robot allies with stray fire or any AOE weapon (such as the missile launcher, grenades or the Fat Man) will result in the entire crew turning hostile and therefore failing this quest; however the cannons are safe to fire as they do not affect the robots.
- Talk with Bosun on the third deck inside the USS Constitution.
- He will ask that the three power cables inside the ship be repaired or replaced. It requires INT 3+ to repair the power cables or grab the new power cables. (OPTIONAL: Grab power cables in a metal box near Bosun).
- Look for yellow utility boxes to replace the power cables. One can be found not far from Bosun in the floor up against the outer ship wall. The other two can be found one deck down: one in the middle of the floor and the other on the outer ship wall.
- Return to Bosun and talk with him again.
- He will ask the player to repair or buy a replacement power relay coil. It requires INT 5+ to repair the power relay coil.
- The power relay panel can be found on the same deck as Bosun. One the righthand side of ship in the wall.
- Next, the player will need to find Mr. Navigator and offer their assistance.
- Mr. Navigator will ask that the player recover the guidance chip for the ship from the scavengers.
Acquiring the guidance chip
- Head back towards Bunker Hill and talk to Mandy Stiles. At this point, the Sole Survivor will have to at least claim to choose to help the scavengers destroy the robot crew, or side with Ironsides. Both paths follow the same pattern, but with a few differences. MacCready, John Hancock, Strong and Cait dislike it if the Ironsides path is chosen, but Codsworth, Deacon, Curie, Danse, Nick Valentine and Preston like it.
- If siding with the scavengers, they will give up the guidance chip for free and ask for any equipment the ship requires so they can sabotage it, along with a warning not to double cross them.
- If choosing to ally with Ironsides, the chip must be stolen from the scavengers' camp (Note: some companions such as John Hancock, Nick Valentine, Preston Garvey, Codsworth, Curie, Danse and Piper dislike stealing the chip). Stealing the guidance chip will turn the local scavengers hostile, even if undetected.
- (Note) If the Sole Survivor tells Mandy Stiles they need to think about the deal instead of choosing immediatly, and provided they can sneak into the base of scavengers, they can steal the chip undetected. If they can then leave without being detected on the way out, they can run back to Ironsides without tripping the mines in the back alley, and then can sneak away without getting attacked.
- Head back to the USS Constitution and install the guidance chip on the main deck.
- Now return to Mr. Navigator and talk with him (he should have moved up onto the main deck near where the guidance chip was installed).
- Mr. Navigator will now ask the Sole Survivor to repair or retrieve the Poseidon radar transmitter. It requires INT 9+ to repair the radar transmitter or a replacement can be retrieved from Poseiden Energy Turbine 18-F, northwest of the BADTFL regional office. Alternatively the player may also be sent to the Poseidon Reservoir, south of Fort Hagen, to retrieve the replacement part.
- After repairing the guidance systems, talk to Mr. Navigator again and receive instructions to talk with Ironsides again.
- Ironsides will ask the player to retrieve FLL3 turbopump bearings from a specific location. Known locations for this part of the quest are: the Corvega assembly plant south of Lexington, Fort Hagen at the west edge of the map, and General Atomics factory northwest of the Castle.
- Return to the USS Constitution and head into the captain's quarters on the second deck, then install the the FLL3 turbopump bearings.
- Return to Ironsides on the main deck and talk to him, while doing so the scavengers will attack the ship again. Eliminate them. If the scavengers reach the top deck, the quest will fail, so a quick save is recommended before doing this part.
- Head back up to Ironsides, to be rewarded with the Broadsider and be asked to complete a final task of firing up the auxiliary power to launch the ship.
- Activate the auxiliary power circuit and watch the ship take off. The switch for the auxiliary power is not on the ship. Head to the building accross from where the scavengers are set up. Take the stairs all the way to the top floor to find a small generator. The switch is through the door on a power pylon. The quest is complete after the ship crashes.
- Afterwards, if the player character reaches the tower in which the ship crashes (using two elevators on the east side of the ship at ground level), Ironsides will name them honorary lieutenant and grant use of the captain's quarters as well as the Lieutenant's hat.
Siding with the scavengers
There is no difference between siding with Ironsides or the scavengers up until the Sole Survivor is told to get and install the guidance chip and radar transmitter, as is mentioned above.
- Once the FLL3 turbopump bearings are retrieved, take them to Mandy instead of Ironsides. Davies will sabotage them so that the ship will explode when the rockets are fired up.
- Install the turbopump bearings and talk to Ironsides again. Go ahead and agree to turn on the auxiliary power.
- Meet up with Mandy (optional) in the building across from where the scavengers are hiding out. She will also tell you to start up the power. The switch for the auxiliary power is not on the ship. It is on the top floor of the building where Mandy currently is. Take the stairs all the way to the top floor to find a small generator. The switch is through the door on a power pylon.
- After the rockets fail, the ship will remain landlocked and the robot crew will turn hostile. Storm the boat with the scavengers and defeat Ironsides.
- Meet up with Mandy after claiming the ship - she has wandered away to near Cabot House - to find out the scavengers held a vote and are not going to split the cut and have, in fact, voted to kill the Sole survivor.
- Regardless of what dialogue option is chosen, the scavengers must be defeated to complete the quest. NOTE: They seem to be very slow to turn hostile if they turn hostile at all, and there's only four of them (one on the ship, one by the scavenger claim, Davies, and Mandy). Even if Mandy and Davies do not turn hostile, killing them will complete the quest. Killing them while they are not hostile will count as murder.
Quest stages
Notes
- Passing a speech check authorizes the Sole Survivor to take payment from the terminal called Ship's Purser, which is sitting on some crates at the north end of the topside deck. The computer also appears to be sentient (if only able to talk through text) and was taken from a tourist kiosk.
- Player characters wearing power armor with jetpacks can rush to the deck as the ship takes off and sail smoothly across. However, the crash sequence will result in instantaneous death and several bugs listed below in the bugs section.
- The player character can also simply flip the switch and jump onto the ship as it passes by and leans towards the building. In order to avoid death upon impact go to the back of the ship and crouch in front of the railing. Standing behind it results in a fall.
- If Preston Garvey accompanies the Sole Survivor the robots will become hostile. To avoid failing the quest, simply walk around them and they will only attack Preston.
- If a companion is wearing power armor that has Tesla Coils, it may trigger hostility in the robots, causing the mission to fail. [verified]
- During the Survivor's first chat with Mandy Stiles, Piper voices her doubts about both eventual choices (siding with the robots or the scavengers), but neither option directly affects her affinity.
- During stages of the quest, there are options to humor Ironsides. Curie, Nick Valentine, Preston Garvey, Piper and Paladin Danse like it if the player character does. MacCready will dislike this. Likewise, MacCready and John Hancock will dislike siding with the captain, with Hancock preferring to help the group of scavengers survive over helping out the ragtag robotic crew.
- Cait will dislike siding with the scavenger, but say she likes it. She will also dislike siding with the robot.
- After the crash, Ironsides is able to assist fighting raiders and super mutants immediately around the crash building. This range is minimal, and only applies to the block in which the crash resides. Shooting raiders from the deck will also trigger Ironsides to open fire on the enemies.
- One of the text blocks that appears on the insertion of the guidance components states that 'LEDs flicker to life.' As there was barely any kind of miniaturization in the Fallout Universe this seems to be an oversight.
- The quest indicator for the auxiliary power may be confusing especially when you're on top of the ship as it will tell you to go back into the ship. The switch for the auxiliary power is in fact not even on or in the ship. It can be found on the top floor of the house south east of the Constitution.
- If the player character sides with the robots, at the end of the quest, Ironsides will proclaim they are "a quarter-fathom closer" to their goal; this seems to be an error on the part of the writers. In nautical terminology, a fathom is a measure of depth, not distance, and is equal to six feet or 1.8 meters. A quarter of this would only be one and a half feet.
Behind the scenes
 | The following is based on unverified behind the scenes information and may be inaccurate. |
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The quest is a reference to The Crimson Permanent Assurance, a short film by Monty Python.
| End of information based on unverified behind the scenes information |
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Bugs
During the scavengers' first assault on the ship, the game's music may be stuck in an infinite battle loop even after the battle is over. You can fix this by saving your game, closing the application, then reboot Fallout 4. The music should be back to normal upon resuming your game. Fast travel should also work.[verified]- The player can also ride the ship to the destination and survive by using a companion to activate the auxiliary generator in the last step and then sprinting to the dinghy elevator at the back of the ship (you must reach the dinghy before the companion activates the switch, try sending them to a spot down a couple floors first and then set the command to activate the switch. The hatch into the USS constitution remains accessible until the countdown ends and the ship begins moving. Talking to Ironsides inside the ship while in flight may cause a crash. [verified]
- It is possible that the scavengers will not attack the ship after the player has talked to Ironsides, making the quest uncompletable. A possible workaround for PC is typing setstage MS11 200 in the console, which will continue the mission by setting the raiders to attack. Typing setstage MS11 840 will set the quest to the very last stage. [verified]
- When completing the quest and returning to the USS Constitution after its second crash, Ironsides will give you full access to his captain's quarters after promoting you to lieutenant. Despite this, the items are still listed as "owned" and can't be taken without stealing them. Ironsides will also be stuck in the same dialogue loop of allowing you access to the captain's quarters.[verified]
- After repairing the guidance system and being instructed to talk to Ironsides by Mr. Navigator, Ironsides may become bugged and not respond to the player by talking. One workaround is to ask your companion (confirmed with Curie) to inspect the captain, after which he will return to normal. An other workaround is to spawn another Ironsides nearby with the console command player.placeatme 0003adc4 and talk to the duplicate. This will somehow initiate conversation with the original Captain Ironsides in which you will have to turn to him to continue the quest. Saving and reloading may also fix the bug.[verified]
- Mandy Stiles may be hostile when first met, leaving only the option to side with Ironsides.[verified]
- The player may not receive any quest marker for the FLL3 turbopump bearings and they will not spawn at any of the three possible locations at which they are normally found thus rendering the quest impossible to complete. In this case the quest cannot be completed without console commands. In console enter player.additem 0009139F 1 and the quest stage will advance. [verified]
- Placing the turbopump bearings may not complete the quest conditions leaving Ironsides to loop dialogue about the Turbopump Bearings.[verified]
- After the scavengers' second assault on the ship, when the quest asks you to speak with Ironsides, it may be possible for Ironsides to get stuck in a sentry bot's "steam out" condition, and will remain there, making the quest unable to be completed. This can be fixed by reloading a save before the second assault. Attacking him will eventually turn the crew hostile, though interestingly enough will not always fail the quest.[verified]
- When the scavengers are all finished a glitch may happen in which the defending mission continues, with no possible way to finish the quest on consoles. On pc you can use the console command setstage MS11 840 to finish the mission and solve the glitch. [verified]
- During the scavenger attack, some scavengers can make their way inside the ship and may get stuck in an infinite loop of exiting and entering the deck, causing them to appear and disappear instantly. Killing them as soon as they appear is possible with a rapid fire weapon. This may be a cause of the above bug. [verified]
- If riding the ship over to the new building with "God Mode" enabled, this can cause the ship to not correctly "finish" when it gets there, leaving the ship inaccessible after completing the mission. [verification overdue]
- When the player is tasked with retrieving the guidance chip, it may not be present inside the file cabinet and the quest marker may direct them to the garden patch in Covenant, thus making the quest impossible to complete. [verification overdue]
- After speaking with Bosun and completing his task, the mission will not update. If having the companion check out Ironsides does not work, and spawning in a new Ironsides does not work, the player can leave the ship, shoot a scavenger, and the mission quest will update afterwords. [verification overdue]
- If for any reason the crew turn against you (while allied with them) after you die (loading a save wasn't tested) and the last save in the ship (before they turn hostile to you) , the fighting music plays , but no one turns hostile.[verification overdue]
