Last weekend was Fleet Week in San Francisco California. Fleet Week is a week-long celebration of the US Armed Forces that revolves around the Navy. There are three main attractions that fill up most days of the week. First are the fleet week parades, both of ships and bands, but I’ve never watched either. Next is the air show which consists of many demonstrations from various companies and performance teams, but the main star of the show is the Navy’s Blue Angels team. Finally, there are the ship tours. These are active navy vessels (usually from the US with occasional visitors from Canada) that are opened to the public for their time in port. After waiting in a long line, you are then given a tour guide of the ship from one of its officers. This year, I got to see the Zumwalt class destroyer USS Michael Monsoor, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS John S. McCain and USS Shoup, and finally the Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Rushmore.
All of the images are from the COMNAVSURFPAC website. The two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are about the same length (~500ft) while the other two are longer and also close in length (~600ft). Each of these ships has so many different cool pieces of technology. The one that obviously sticks out the most is the Zumwalt-class destroyer as it was designed with a minimal radar signature in mind, giving it a cool futuristic look, something akin to what the Nighthawk was for planes. One very interesting thing I noticed while touring the USS John S. McCain was that its turret was rounded while the more recent USS Shoup right next to it had very flat faces on its gun. This seems to be more in line with the look of the Zumwalt-class, but it is weird. As far as I know, the flat surfaces of the Nighthawk were due to technical limitations of the time, which is why modern stealth planes use specifically curved designs. Why is this seemingly different for ships? I have no idea, but it is these kinds of questions that I really enjoy. I really am glad to live in a part of the country so close to these amazing events. Until next time.