Pay off

1. To let a vessel's head fall off from the wind (to leeward).
2. During the Age of Sail, the practice of paying a crew its wages for the voyage when a vessel completed her voyage, at which point the crew was said to be paid off.
3. In British and Commonwealth usage, to decommission a warship, e.g. "The old destroyer paid off after returning to port at the end of her final cruise."