(Editor’s note, 11:11 pm: We watched till it passed Don Armeni; have added video and photos)
(Photo by Chris Fruitrich, added at 11:09 pm)
In comments on our morning preview, we’ve been getting reports that the Sea-Based X-Band Radar – the huge platform on its way to Vigor Shipyard on Harbor Island for three months of work, as we’ve been reporting since last week – is now in view from Alki. Photos as soon as available – the one above is a screengrab from earlier as it passed Hansville. (And they’re having a media event first thing tomorrow morning, so we’ll find out even more about this structure that will be a local fixture for months to come.)
(Dusk photo by Christopher Boffoli, added at 9:37 pm)
9:09 PM: On the boardwalk at Alki. If it were brightly sunny, it would be fairly visible now that it’s entering the bay. But at cloudy twilight it’s mostly lost in the dusk. Will likely be most interesting in another hour-plus as it approaches the shipyard, close enough, we’d imagine, that it’ll be visible despite the low light. It’s proceeding fairly slowly.
9:39 PM: Added a photo Christopher Boffoli took at dusk. Most striking thing we notice as it gets closer to Alki is all the flashing blue lights from what must be escort boats, so much lower in the water.
11:13 PM: Back from watching till it made its way past Don Armeni, where we shot the video now embedded above this line, with the structure seeming to eclipse the downtown skyscrapers.
12:12 AM: Adding a few more photos that we’ve received. The one immediately above is from Gary Jones. A later shot from Christopher:
And from Paul Arthur:
Though SBX is not to operate while here, its regular mission is described as “to identify ballistic missile threats and relay that information to the battle management, command, control and communications system for missile defense.” It’s based in the western Aleutian Islands.
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