The U.S. Navy returns to San Francisco Bay this weekend for the annual Fleet
Week celebration, featuring three air shows today, tomorrow and Sunday by the
Blue Angels flying team, and a parade of 12 warships tomorrow morning.

It will be like old times for the Navy, which had a major presence in the Bay Area
for more than 150 years until this spring when the last of the bases that once ringed
the bay was shut down.

The event begins with a window-rattling series of flights by the Blue Angels over
southern Marin County and San Francisco about 12:30 p.m. today. This
performance is a dress rehearsal for the main show at about the same time on
tomorrow and Sunday.

Tomorrow, the destroyer Oldendorf will lead a parade of 12 ships under the
Golden Gate Bridge and along the San Francisco waterfront, starting at 11 a.m.

Among the ships in the parade are the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, which is
the world's largest warship, the cruiser Antietam and the attack submarine
Chicago.

The Chilean navy destroyer Blanco Enclada and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter
Rush will also be in the parade.

Except for the submarine Chicago, the ships will be open for public tours at
various San Francisco piers tomorrow, Sunday and Monday. The Chicago will be
berthed at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, one of the bases
decommissioned this spring. The Chicago is not open to public tours.

The Navy will also conduct band concerts and military demonstrations during Fleet
Week.

The U.S. Navy is the oldest American institution on the Pacific Coast. Navy
personnel first raised the U.S. flag over San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento,
Monterey and Sonoma when California was seized from Mexico in 1846.