FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Fleet Week events started with the arrival of three battleships and an attack submarine Tuesday at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.
Rear Adm. John W. Hewitt said there were about 1,200 servicemen and women with the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard participating.
“These instruments of war are nothing without the people that are manning them, fighting them, and maintaining them every single day,” Hewitt said.
The public tours of the USS New York, an amphibious transport dock ship; USS Cole, the guided-missile destroyer attacked in 2000 in Yemen; USS Virginia-class submarine, and USCGC Tampa, a medium endurance cutter, are Wednesday to April 29.
For many, Fleet Week was a homecoming. U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Esteban Cabañas arrived aboard the USS New York and couldn’t wait to show it to his family.
“We have a CH-53E on board,” said Cabañas, who was born in Paraguay and raised in Weston and graduated from the University of Miami and Florida International University.
Cabañas said he was also looking forward to arriving at the Weston Community Center at Regional Park in a Black Hawk helicopter on Saturday.
“I was 4 years old when my dad taught me how to play soccer there,” Cabañas said.
The helicopter will be part of the Weston YMCA’s Top Gun Olympics, a fun competition between teams representing each of the visiting ships and a group of JROTC cadets from 8 to 11 a.m.
“I have traveled all across the world and I have come full circle in life coming back,” Cabañas said.
Cmdr. Matthew E. Faulkenberry said there was also a homecoming for a historic battleship.
After his arrival on the USS Cole, Faulkenberry said the ship was commissioned in 1996 at Port Everglades. It was named after Sgt. Darrell S. Cole for his heroism during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
“We are 505 feet of American firepower,” Faulkenberry said.
The schedule of events also includes the Dancing With The Stars and Stripes event on Thursday and a Shabbat dinner at Las Olas Chabat on Friday.
It also highlights the 250th-anniversary concert on Saturday, a 5K on Sunday, a fishing tournament on Monday, and a farewell reception on April 29. The ships and submarine start departing at 6 a.m., April 30.
Organizers require a free ticket to tour the ships and will release these online 48 hours in advance of each group tour’s appointment. Touring the submarine requires a reservation to enter a ticket lottery.