(US Navy photo: USS Constellation in Elliott Bay during Seafair, 1996)
New information today about the last voyage of the USS Constellation, the aircraft carrier that’s about to be towed away from Bremerton after a decade, and that will pass West Seattle shortly after the start of its 18,000-mile tow to a Texas shipbreaking yard. Foss Maritime – whose ocean tug Corbin Foss is scheduled to tow the “Connie” – just let us know about a special website it’s set up to chronicle the journey; see it here. The trip is now set to start early tomorrow afternoon (Friday, August 8th), according to Foss, which says harbor tugs will bring it from Bremerton, and rendezvous with the Corbin Foss off Blake Island. You’ll be able to see it from West Seattle (primarily Beach Drive/Alki) once it’s out of Rich Passage and northward-bound into Puget Sound. The Constellation is one of the last few non-nuclear carriers to be scrapped; it’s been mothballed at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard since it was decommissioned in 2003. It (and the Corbin Foss) will stop at Long Beach, California – last U.S. port – around the 16th.