There is always something noteworthy happening on the Willamette River and this last week has been especially noteworthy. Fleet Week coincides with the celebration of Portland and the Rose Festival. One of the purposes of Fleet Week is to celebrate and thank the active and reserve military personnel and all veterans. So much happening on the river and in the Tom McCall Park along the river!
The ships arrived June 5 and 6, docking below the Steel Bridge at Tom McCall Park and taking on visitors during advertised hours daily; they departed yesterday morning, June 10th. I did not manage to photograph all the ships that were here, but here are the few that I did capture.
US Coast Guard ship.
US Coast Guard Bluebell, an inland buoy tender.
Royal Canadian ship the Edmonton, a Kingston-Class coastal defense vessel.
US Destroyer, the Pinckney, based in San Diego
US Navy PT 658 — World War II PT-625-class Higgins 78-foot PT boat, 1945. This boat is fully restored and permanently attached to Portland.
The US Coast Guard ship leaving Portland. It has just cleared the Steel Bridge and the bridge is still in full up position. Not a terrific shot of the ship, but pretty good of the bridge.
The Steel Bridge is a through truss, double-deck vertical-lift bridge across the Willamette River, opened in 1912. Its lower deck carries railroad and bicycle/pedestrian traffic, while the upper deck carries road traffic and light rail (MAX), making the bridge one of the most multimodal in the world. It is the only double-deck bridge with independent lifts in the world and the second oldest vertical-lift bridge in North America, after the nearby Hawthorne Bridge. More about this bridge here. This is just one of 9 bridges that cross the Willamette River in Portland. We’re called Bridge City for good reason.
Some of the same ships were here in 2016 when I did a much more thorough reporting on Fleet Week. Click on the year to review more ships.
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