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 Saturday. (Courtesy Photo |U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Ace Rheaume)

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 Saturday. (Courtesy Photo |U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Ace Rheaume)

Navy’s high-tech warship makes first trip to Alaska, stops in Ketchikan

Trip offers chance for training and public tours.

Ketchikan has a rare visitor this weekend.

The USS Zumwalt, part of the Navy’s newest class of warships, arrived in Ketchikan Saturday morning, and it will be open to public tours 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

“The point of this stop in port is to engage with the community, and let them see where their tax dollars are going and what the Navy is out there doing,” said Commander Brandon Raile, a Navy Chief, in an interview with the Juneau Empire.

Raile said the last time a Navy ship made a stop at Ketchikan was in 2005 when the USS Ogden was in port, and Juneau was visited by the USS O’Kane in May 2017.

Steve Corporon, director of port and harbors for the City of Ketchikan, said some bigger fenders were needed to make sure the ship would fit at the dock without damaging either the vessel or the dock.

He said the ship’s presence would be a departure from the pre-cruise ship season status quo.

“This time of year everything is exciting, I guess,” Corporon said.

[Calling all beardos, there’s a new club for you]

Raile said that nearly 15-year gap between visits to Ketchikan likely played a role in why Ketchikan was chosen for a visit. Plus, there’s a strategic reason to send the high-tech ship to Southeast Alaska.

The USS Zumwalt pictured here during a voyage to San Diego is in Ketchikan this weekend. (Courtesy Photo | U.S. Navy photo courtesy of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works/Released)

The USS Zumwalt pictured here during a voyage to San Diego is in Ketchikan this weekend. (Courtesy Photo | U.S. Navy photo courtesy of General Dynamics Bath Iron Works/Released)

“From Alaska, for air times you can get to pretty much anywhere in the northern hemisphere in under nine hours,” Raile said. “Another reason is, as we’re all aware, is the changing environment up here.”

He said receding ice in the Arctic is creating water ways that previously didn’t exist and that means “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.”

[Going to bat for Juneau’s winged mammals]

The trip from San Diego, where the ship is based, to Ketchikan serves as a chance for servicemen to familiarize themselves with operating the 610-footlong ship also known as DDG 1000.

“The purpose of this whole underway for them is training and testing out the new equipment,” Raile said. “This is a very new ship.”

Construction on the Zumwalt started in 2009, and according to the Navy, it is the largest advanced surface combatant in the world.

The future USS Zumwalt, pictured here underway for the first time conducting at-sea tests and trials on the Kennebeck River, made a stop in Ketchikan Saturday, March 23. ( Courtesy Photo | U.S. Navy photo)

The future USS Zumwalt, pictured here underway for the first time conducting at-sea tests and trials on the Kennebeck River, made a stop in Ketchikan Saturday, March 23. ( Courtesy Photo | U.S. Navy photo)

The ship is named for Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt Jr., a World War II, Vietnam and Korea veteran, who served as the 19th Chief of Naval Operations.

The USS Zumwalt was launched in October 2013, according to the Navy.

It recently made a similar trip to British Columbia and more travel will be in its future after the stop in Ketchikan.

“I can’t talk about where it is going after that, but back underway,” Raile said.


• Contact reporter Ben Hohenstatt at (907)523-2243 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BenHohenstatt.


More in News

A map of the Johnson Tract Mine exploration project. Photo courtesy of the Center for Biological Diversity
Inletkeeper, partners file lawsuit against Cook Inlet gold mine

The Johnson Tract Mine is located on CIRI-owned lands inside Lake Clark National Park.

A sockeye salmon is carried from the waters of Cook Inlet on North Kenai Beach in Kenai, Alaska, during the first day of the Kenai River personal use dipnet fishery on Thursday, July 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai River dipnet fishery open 24 hours beginning Friday night

Per fish counts available from the department, 471,000 sockeye have been counted so far this year — with 108,000 counted on Wednesday alone.

Attorneys Eric Derleth and Dan Strigle speak to Superior Court Judge Kelly Lawson during the opening arguments of State of Alaska v. Nathan Erfurth at the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Opening arguments offered in Erfurth trial

The trial is set to continue for around two weeks, into early August.

Evacuees in Seward, Alaska, walk along Adams Street following a tsunami warning on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Tsunami warning canceled following 7.3 earthquake near Sand Point

An all clear was issued for Kachemak Bay communities at 1:48 p.m. by the Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management.

The Ninilchik River on May 18, 2019, in Ninilchik, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Ninilchik River to remain closed to king salmon fishing

It was an “error in regulation” that would have opened the Ninilchik River to king salmon fishing on Wednesday.

A table used by parties to a case sits empty in Courtroom 4 of the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski woman sentenced to 4 years in prison for 2023 drug death

Lawana Barker was sentenced for her role in the 2023 death of Michael Rodgers.

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Seward resident arrested after Monday night police pursuit

Troopers say she led them on a high-speed chase on Kalifornsky Beach Road for around 7 miles.

Concert-goers listen to The Discopians at Concert on the Lawn on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at Karen Hornaday Park in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
‘Dancing at the end of the world’

KBBI AM 890 hosted their annual Concert on the Lawn Saturday.

Most Read