The contract to build Boston was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut on 10 December 1973 and her keel was laid down on 11 August 1978.

She was launched on 19 April 1980 sponsored by Mrs. Karen Dane Hidalgo (née Jernstedt), wife of the Secretary of the Navy Edward Hidalgo, and commissioned on 30 January 1982, with Captain Jon M. Barr in command.

Due to cutbacks in the Defense Budget; Boston, like many of her early Los Angeles-class sisters was not given her mid-life nuclear refueling, and was decommissioned and stricken on 19 November 1999 from the Naval Vessel Register.

Ex-Boston entered the Nuclear Powered Ship and Submarine Recycling Program in Bremerton, Washington, on 1 October 2001 and on 19 September 2002 ceased to exist.

The crew distinguished themselves on numerous occasions by meritorious service and outstanding performance.