In 1972, after being decommissioned, the USS Albacore sat in the Inactive Ship Facility at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for seven years until the Navy Board of Inspection and Survey recommended that "she be stricken from the Naval Register of Ships." In April of 1980, the Chief of Naval Operations advised the Secretary of the Navy that "the Navy has no further requirement for this ship as an operational R&D platform" and that "authority is requested to dispose of Albacore as a target of destruction for experimental purposes." On May 1, 1980, Albacore was stricken from the Navy List.

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Bill Keefe, a Portsmouth City Council member, had brought the Tall Ships to Portsmouth in 1981. A chance meeting with Russell Van Billiard, who had seen Albacore in Philadelphia, convinced Keefe to take on the project of bringing Albacore home to Portsmouth to serve as a monument to the people who designed, built, maintained and manned her.​ What started out as the Bring Back the Albacore Committee eventually became the nonprofit Portsmouth Submarine & Maritime Association (PSMA). PSMA faced four challenges: 1) To raise necessary funds; 2) to get the Navy to release the Albacore; 3) to find a suitable site; and 4) to determine how to move her to said site.

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When a search of waterfront property failed to find a suitable piece of land along the Piscataqua River, it was considered to move the Albacore onto a dry land site. What better way to display Albacore's sleek hull and counter-rotating propellers than by having her completely out of the water and visible. A local philanthropist by the name of Joe Sawtelle located a parcel of land at the intersection of the Route 1 By-Pass and Market Street that belonged to the Maine-New Hampshire Interstate Bridge Authority. The Authority Board agreed to sell the land to PSMA.

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The Navy required proof that PSMA had the financial resources to complete the project before they would consider releasing Albacore to them. The public response was overwhelming and over $400,000 was raised. Commitments from two large donors brought the total to $758,000 and, taking a $300,000 mortgage on the property, the funding was set.

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With a site, funding and public support, the Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations, the US Navy and Navy Secretary John Lehman were approached. After much paperwork and many meetings, both houses of Congress passed the necessary bill to release Albacore to PSMA and on November 7, 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed the bill. However, the Naval Sea Systems Command, the final authority to consent to releasing Albacore, did not do so until just hours before Albacore began its big move in May of 1985.

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Once PSMA had approval to take possession of Albacore, they now faced the problem of getting her from Philadelphia to Portsmouth. The Navy could not free one of its tug boats to move the submarine so a reserve Army component took on the move as a training exercise. In April of 1984, the Navy briefly turned custody of a Navy submarine over to the Army Reserve. After a careful pre-tow inspection by the tug's skipper, Warrant Officer Mark Anthony, the Army tug Okinawa took Albacore under tow for the 575 mile, 70-hour trip to Portsmouth.​ However, Albacore caused a problem for the tug. Whenever the tug slowed down, Albacore with her low drag would continue on and try to overtake the tug. The 5 knot average speed was much lower than hoped for. It was at this point that the Naval Reserve Center took over. Any classified items or systems were either covered up or removed as NAVSEA directed. Depth and speed indicators and ballast tank systems were restored to working order for Albacore. During their drill periods, the reservists invested countless hours of training time in preparations, while the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard provided extra support. Thanks to their efforts, Albacore finally arrived at the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth.

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Gene Allmendinger, a professor of naval architecture at the University of New Hampshire and a member of PSMA, designed a set of reinforced concrete cradles that would serve as Albacore’s supports on dry land. The challenge was how to get Albacore to these cradles, which was a quarter of a mile from the river and 27 feet above sea level. Of the three different methods considered, the one selected was a marine railway. Albacore would be floated onto a specially designed cradle which would be moved on rollers on twin tracks. A heavy duty winch would pull the submarine out of the water and up a ramp.​

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To get the Albacore from the Piscataqua River to the cradle, it would be necessary to remove a railroad trestle, cut through a four lane highway, and dredge a channel to the end of the marine railway. Gaining permission and approvals to do all this was a major task with over 20 separate permits and approvals required. A complicating factor was that the move had to occur at the time of the highest monthly tide. Finally, all permits and authorizations were in hand and, on May 4, 1985, the final process of moving Albacore to her concrete cradles began.​​

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The channel had been dredged, the trestle removed, and the highway breached. Albacore passed stern first through the gap in the railroad and began a sideways maneuver of several hundred feet to line up with the highway cut. Her lower stern fins went aground in the mud and high tide came and went before she could be freed. With just minutes to spare, she was lined up over the cradle when a major problem arose. A protective cap on the end of her propeller-less propeller shaft prevented Albacore's stern from lining up exactly with the cradle.​

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With the tide going out, a decision was made to go ahead and land Albacore on the cradle and pull her out anyway. A winch failure postponed the movement until the next day. On the following day, the repaired winch slowly moved the boat and cradle perhaps 30 feet before disaster struck. With the full weight of the submarine on it, the beams of the cradle buckled and the cradle slipped off the tracks. At the next high tide, the boat was moved back as far as possible from the river and allowed to settle in the mud as the tide receded. There was no back up plan. The submarine could not be moved without cutting the highway again and taking down the railroad trestle. The only other option seemed to be to cut up the boat and haul it away in pieces. And that was not an acceptable solution.

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For six months Albacore sat in the mud while possible engineering solutions were evaluated. The plan finally adopted was to build a large cofferdam around the submarine, fill it with water, float the submarine, and pull it to the back end of. By building ever higher walls around the boat, a series of canal locks would lift the submarine and allow her to be moved.

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Now began the permitting process which entailed convincing the Army Corps of Engineers, among others, that the cofferdam would hold water and not collapse. With the water level in the final cofferdam 6 1/2 feet above the Route 1 By-Pass, the Corps had to be satisfied that the water would be contained and that there was a very low risk of a blow out and catastrophic flooding. The University of New Hampshire School of Engineering provided technical assistance in providing an analysis of soil mechanics, structural geometry, and the system for lining the cofferdam with poly sheeting to minimize water leakage.​

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Filling the cofferdam with water was another problem. The available pumps did not have the volume capacity. Walter Pratt of Rensselaer, NY donated and delivered 12 massive pumps. Another problem to be solved was that the pumps would run out of gas every three hours and they would need to be running 24 hours a day. Buzz Hanscom, owner of a local fuel company, loaded up one of his tanker trucks and donated fuel which kept the pump tanks filled. With all details complete, it took three days of round-the-clock operations to complete three floods and lifts and move Albacore into position. With the water level falling, Albacore settled perfectly on her concrete cradle at 4:30 pm on October 3, 1985. The big move was finally complete.

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Now began the task of readying Albacore for the public. ​She needed her counter-rotating propellers mounted, two holes cut in the hull for visitor entry and exit doors, the hull sandblasted and painted, and modification of internal electrical wiring to accommodate shore power. A large group of volunteers, many from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, did all the work. A refurbished, working periscope was provided by the Navy. It took almost a year before everything was ready, and the USS Albacore was opened to the public on August 30, 1986.