The guided-missile destroyer USS Zumwalt, left, is underway in formation with the littoral combat ship USS Independence on the final leg of its three-month journey to its new homeport in San Diego. The USS Zumwalt arrived in Ketchikan last Saturday.
KETCHIKAN, Alaska (AP) – One of the U.S. Navy's newest class of warships has docked at an Alaska port for a rare visit.
The USS Zumwalt docked in Ketchikan for a weekend stay beginning Saturday, the Juneau Empire reported .
The 610-footlong guided missile destroyer launched in October 2013 and based in San Diego was scheduled to be open for public tours Sunday in the southern Alaska city, officials said.
Steve Corporon, Ketchikan's port and harbors director, said bigger fenders were needed to make sure the ship would fit without damaging the vessel or the dock.
Navy Commander Brandon Raile said the last Navy visit to Ketchikan was the USS Ogden in 2005, while the USS O'Kane guided missile destroyer stopped in Juneau nearly 300 miles (about 483 kilometers) further north in May 2017.
The 15-year time gap and strategic reasons were behind the Alaska stop, according to Raile, who explained that receding ice in the Arctic is creating waterways that previously did not exist. He added that "everybody is more interested in the area for trade and other purposes.''
"It's important that the Navy does more and more exercise up in this part of the world,"Raile said. "We have the opportunity of a ship that needs something to do and something that needs to be done. It works out pretty well.''
The ship will continue to undisclosed locations after leaving Ketchikan, Raile said.
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