PREVIEW: Seafair Parade of Ships to pass West Seattle shores on Tuesday; ship tours Thursday-Sunday

That’s the destroyer USS Sampson, the U.S. Navy‘s contribution to last year’s Seafair Parade of Ships. Once again this year, Seafair says the Navy won’t announce until tomorrow – the day of the waterborne parade – which of its ships will sail past the West Seattle and downtown waterfronts, ending up at Pier 46’s Coast Guard Event Center, where the ship(s) will be open to public tours Thursday-Sunday. U.S. Coast Guard ships will be part of the Parade of Ships too, also as-yet unannounced. To watch the Parade of Ships, just be somewhere on the north-to-northwest-to-northeast-facing West Seattle shore around noon – from Alki Point to Jack Block Park. For tours, 10 am-4 pm Thursday-Sunday (note that the Navy website says 4 pm while the Seafair website says 3 pm), here are the Navy’s rules; note that RealID-compliant identification is required, so if you haven’t gotten around to that yet, you won’t be allowed aboard.

6 Replies to "PREVIEW: Seafair Parade of Ships to pass West Seattle shores on Tuesday; ship tours Thursday-Sunday"

  • Lucy July 28, 2025 (3:48 pm)

    Welcome sailors!  I do miss the old days when there would be a flattop, several destroyers and other Navy ships.  It was so fun and exciting to see!  Pioneer square was a huge party with the sailors and the pirates all having a great time.  

    • KT July 28, 2025 (8:43 pm)

      Yes!  Was great to see that.  And you could sign up to take a sailor to dinner.  Fun times for us (then) single gals back in the 80s 

  • CarDriver July 28, 2025 (5:01 pm)

    Didn’t they do a carrier launch of a jet in Elliot Bay many years ago?

    • Rhonda July 29, 2025 (1:14 am)

      YES! It was a truly wonderful experience. The carrier sat static in Elliott Bay and the planes were catapulted towards Magnolia. Then they did carrier landings and did their glide slope right over Admiral and Alki. We watched it all from Myrtle Edwards Park in Lower Queen Anne. 

      • Ex-Westwood Resident July 29, 2025 (11:23 am)

        Sometime in the mid 90’s.

        IIRC, it was the USS Kitty Hawk.

        I had my son (4/5 years-old att) with me watching it from Alki. I was interviewed by KOMO during it.

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