Sunny San Diego, with scant days of rain, year-round temperatures averaging in the 70s and more than 70 miles of Pacific Ocean coastline, is a popular Southern California tourist destination that’s also home to the largest naval base on the West Coast. Navy ships passing civilian sailboats are a common sight on San Diego Bay, a naturally formed harbor. Navy ships are often anchored at Naval Base Coronado or Naval Base Point Loma across the bay from downtown San Diego, which fronts the harbor, or at Naval Base San Diego, just south of downtown. You can also tour retired Navy vessels or take occasionally scheduled tours of active-duty ships.
The retired aircraft carrier USS Midway is now the USS Midway Museum, where you can explore galleys, engine rooms and a flight deck holding 29 vintage Navy aircraft aboard this massive ship anchored just off downtown San Diego. The ship has been equipped with more than 60 exhibits, including interactive flight simulators and climb-aboard helicopters. The retired Navy ship, which is about 1,000-feet long with a flight deck that’s 4 acres in size, also has a restaurant and a movie theater. Some docents are retired Navy personnel. The ship is open daily except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.
San Diego Maritime Museum on the harbor in downtown San Diego has a retired Navy swift boat, the PCF-16, which you can board for harbor tours on weekends. "Swift boat" is the nickname sailors gave the Navy’s Patrol Craft Fast (PCF) boats used during the Vietnam conflict. While you ride aboard this high-speed 980-horsepower boat on San Diego Bay past Naval Base San Diego and Naval Base Point Loma, docents on board will describe the history of swift boats. Tickets are available at the maritime museum, where you can also see exhibits on the history of the Navy’s role in San Diego. You can tour a tall ship anchored outside the museum that's actually a replica of an 18th-century British Royal Navy frigate built for the movie “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.” The tall ship Star of India, also open for on-board tours just a few feet from the museum, is an actual civilian ship built in 1863.
For several days each year, usually in September, San Diego celebrates the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard during Fleet Week. While an air show held just north of San Diego at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar is a staple of Fleet Week events, a tour of an active-duty ship occasionally is scheduled. For example, in 2013, the public was allowed to board the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan. Check the Fleet Week San Diego website to learn if an active-duty naval ship tour has been included in the current year’s events.
You can watch Navy ships and submarines crossing San Diego Bay from downtown San Diego and from Point Loma, San Diego’s peninsula stretching west of downtown, where you'll also find the city’s airport. For closer views of Navy ships from the water, two long-time harbor boat companies offering daily tours that pass ships anchored at Navy installations are Flagship Cruises & Events and Hornblower Cruises & Events. Flagship also operates the San Diego Water Taxi, which allows you to reserve a small boat and driver to take you to the vicinity of anchored ships.
