(Added: USS Barry and fireboat Leschi)

12:31 PM: Now in view from Alki, the Seafair Parade of Ships, sailing past West Seattle on the way to the downtown waterfront. Participants as announced:

US Navy: USS Barry (DDG 52), a guided-missile destroyer homeported in Everett

U.S. Coast Guard: USCGC Robert Ward (WPC-1130), a cutter based in Los Angeles, and USCGC Henry Blake (WLM-563), a buoy tender (note: MarineTraffic.com IDs suggest the USCGC Wahoo [WPB 87345] is in the parade instead of or in addition to Robert Ward)

Royal Canadian Navy: HMCS Edmonton (703), HMCS Yellowknife (706), HMCS Nanaimo (MM 702)

The fireboat Leschi is greeting them, too:

12:47 PM: Approaching Duwamish Head. TV and Coast Guard helicopters in the area, too.

1:19 PM: The ships have passed West Seattle and are now downtown-bound, while we head back to HQ. As noted above, USCGC Wahoo sailed instead of USCGC Robert Ward; SPD’s Harbor 2 kept watch after it.

2:10 PM: Photos added, ours unless otherwise credited, like this one from Gary Jones at Alki Point – he noted the USS Barry was flying the flag of Hawai’i until swapped out just before the parade started passing West Seattle’s shore:

Information on touring the visiting ships this week is here.

(2022 Seafair Parade of Ships photo by Long Bach Nguyen)

This is Seafair‘s big week, and some of it will be visible from West Seattle. On Wednesday, expect Blue Angels fly-bys before the U.S. Navy demonstration team arrives at Boeing Field around 1:30 pm, but first, there’s the Seafair Fleet arrival tomorrow (Tuesday, August 1st), passing West Seattle’s Elliott Bay shores on their way to “parade” past the downtown waterfront. Today, Seafair has announced which ships are participating:

US Navy: USS Barry (DDG 52), a guided-missile destroyer homeported in Everett

U.S. Coast Guard: USCGC Robert Ward (WPC-1130), a cutter based in Los Angeles, and USCGC Henry Blake (WLM-563), a buoy tender

Royal Canadian Navy: HMCS Edmonton (703), HMCS Yellowknife (706), HMCS Nanaimo (MM 702)

The ships are due along the downtown waterfront at 1 pm so their West Seattle pass should be in the noon hour; you can usually get a good view anywhere from the Alki promenade to Seacrest Pier. Later this week they’ll be open for tours at three downtown locations – on Pier 46, Terminal 66, and Pier 68; the schedules are on the Seafair website.

Thanks to Mike Y. for the photo of the Zhen Hua 23 as it passed West Seattle, northbound, this afternoon. That’s the ship we showed you June 23rd as it passed, southbound, headed for Tacoma, carrying four new port cranes from ZPMC in China. Two were dropped off at the Washington United Terminal in Tacoma; the other two are now on their way to Los Angeles. We’ll see a similar sight this fall when two new cranes are brought to West Seattle’s Terminal 5 for its second modernized berth.

ADDED: One more photo from today, sent by Jerry Simmons:

Thanks for the tip and photo! That’s the Zhen Hua 23 passing West Seattle, carrying four China-built port cranes southward. Usually there’s a big advance alert about this kind of thing, but so far all we’ve found is that the Zhen Hua 23 is on Monday’s schedule to dock at the Port of Tacoma’s WUT (Washington United Terminals) terminal. (Terminal 5 in West Seattle is due to get cranes for the second modernized berth, but that’s still some months away.)

ADDED: Here’s the WUT announcement from when these cranes were ordered.

Thanks to James Bratsanos for the photos of a cluster of fishing boats south off Alki Point today. Online research suggested they’re likely looking for lingcod, and state Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Chase Gunnell confirmed it: “Yes, May 1 is the annual lingcod fishing opener for recreational anglers in Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, and Strait of Juan de Fuca. Rockpiles and reefs off Alki Point and Blake Island are popular fishing spots for these predatory and delicious bottomfish.”

Gunnell also notes you can find out more about lingcod fishing here.

(Photo sent by Duncan)

10:20 AM: Thanks for the tips and photos! The aircraft carrier headed northbound right now is USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), confirmed via MarineTraffic.com. It arrived in Bremerton in 2021 for major overhaul work.

1 PM: You can read more about the Theodore Roosevelt’s departure – headed back to its San Diego homeport – via the Kitsap Sun.

Thanks to Rachel for the photos of Seattle Fire Department fireboat Leschi off Don Armeni Boat Ramp this afternoon. It’s not unusual to see a fireboat out testing – or sometimes welcoming (during the Seafair Fleet arrival or the first cruise ship of the season, for example) – but Rachel also heard the unmistakable strains of “Amazing Grace.” So we contacted SFD to see if it perhaps had been a memorial. Just got the reply. The Leschi was already scheduled to be out drilling, and then: “A retired Seattle Fire Boat Engineer recently passed away. The crew learned that the family was going to be at the park, so during their drill, they did a thoughtful gesture and honored Retired Fire Boat Engineer Connie Sample with a water show. One of the firefighters had his bagpipes with him and played.”

Thanks to Brooke Gosztola for the photo! In case you wondered too – the sailboats visible from west-facing West Seattle are, as best we can determine, part of a Corinthian Yacht Club race (starting and finishing at Shilshole).

Thanks for the photo and tips. Another submarine sighting off West Seattle this morning, this time inbound to Bremerton. We have an inquiry out to Naval Base Kitsap. The last passing-submarine sighting reported here, on February 10th, was eventually reported by the Kitsap Sun to have been the USS Key West, arriving for decommissioning. The one seen the day before that was the USS Louisiana, outbound after a 41-month overhaul.

Thanks to everyone who’s sent photos of that paddlewheeler being towed/pushed northbound along west-facing West Seattle shores and then eastbound into Elliott Bay. MarineTraffic.com does not identify it – only the tugs with it – but searching by image indicates it’s the Emerald Queen, a 1995-built 300-foot paddlewheeler that once housed the casino of the same name. It had been listed for sale. We’re checking around to find out more about its fate and destination; the tugs’ online track indicates it was brought up here from Tacoma.

That distant texted pic is the only photo we have, but multiple readers report another submarine sighting off West Seattle earlier this afternoon. This time, the submarine was inbound, headed for Bremerton. One reader said, “Looks like a Los Angeles class, not the Ohio class that departed yesterday.”

Thanks to the readers who sent photos of that submarine as it passed West Seattle, northbound, just after 9 am today. MarineTraffic.com identifies it only as “submarine,” currently off Edmonds, still northbound.

ADDED SATURDAY: Two photos sent by readers:

Thanks to Lynn Hall for the photo. That’s the U.S. Navy littoral combat ship USS Omaha (LCS 12), seen in Elliott Bay this afternoon. It’s been undergoing maintenance work at Vigor‘s Harbor Island shipyard, which announced a $110 million contract in 2021 to work on the Omaha and another littoral combat ship, USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10).

Thanks to everyone who’s sent photos of the sailboats off West Seattle this afternoon! Above, Chris Frankovich‘s view from Seola; below, Brooke Gozstola‘s view from further north:

And from Mike Fischer, who notes that this is the Three Tree Point Yacht Club‘s Duwamish Head Race.

According to the TTPYC website, more than 50 yachts were registered for the race. The race course – starting and finishing in Des Moines – is outlined here.

(WSB photo, this morning)

11:57 AM: The crew contracted to remove a semi-sunken sailboat from Don Armeni Boat Ramp is trying again today. Last Thursday, we reported on their plan to take it to Shilshole; a commenter noted the next day that the boat hadn’t been moved after all. So we went by this morning to see if it was gone yet, and found the tow crew working on it again. They explained that last week’s attempt was thwarted because the boat “sprang a leak” but they’ve remedied the situation and are hopeful today’s attempt will work. (We’ll check back later.)

ADDED TUESDAY EVENING: We did go back to look at day’s end, and the boat indeed is gone.

Back on Saturday, we reported on a false-alarm water-rescue call at Don Armeni Boat Ramp, related to a sinking sailboat that turned out to have been there for some days. By the next day, the boat was entirely submerged. Today, it’s being removed. After a tip from Doug, we went over for a look. The crew from BoatUS, which included a diver, told us they’re working on behalf of an insurance company.

They plan to take the boat over to Shilshole, where it’ll be cut up for salvage.

(Photos by Jerry Simmons)

ORIGINAL WEDNESDAY REPORT: Thanks to everyone who sent photos of this vessel seen from Alki today, removing floating logs/trees from Elliott Bay, after the king tide – and rain-swollen rivers – swept so many out to sea. It’s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers‘ M/V Puget, explained here as the USACE’s “debris recovery vessel,” with authority to “remove trees, brush and other debris that may be determined to be obstructions to navigation or that may promote flooding.”

M/V Puget is 78 years old and 104 feet long, based in Ballard. We tried contacting the Corps today to ask for specifics on this operation but haven’t heard back yet.

ADDED THURSDAY AFTERNOON: USACE Seattle spokesperson Scott Lawrence confirms that’s what the Puget was doing and that its crew members “are continuing work in the greater central Puget Sound, clearing logs from the recent king tides and high winds the area experienced.” As for what happens to the logs pulled from the water: “The logs and debris are taken to our debris barges at the Hiram M. Chittenden locks in Ballard, Washington, where a contractor comes in and recycles the material.”

12:12 PM: Thanks to Danny McMillin for the photo of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) as it headed out this morning. The tracker suggests it’s bound for San Diego. One month ago, it returned home to Bremerton after what the Navy said was its Carrier Strike Group’s final training pre-deployment.

8:01 PM: The Kitsap Sun‘s report on Nimitz’s departure confirms this is indeed the long-anticipated deployment, so we won’t see it heading back this way for months.