In celebration of Seal Beach Founder’s Day and the 237th birthday of the U.S. Navy, the public will have a unique opportunity to visit a famous, state-of-the-art warship and meet her crew at the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station on October 13-14.
The guided missile destroyer USS Sampson (DDG 102) will be open for weekend public visiting, with Saturday tours given from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and Sunday tours provided from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Hands-on displays of other Navy and Marine Corps equipment will also be available.
USS Sampson was commissioned in 2007, and was one of the ships featured in the summer blockbuster movie Battleship. The vessel recently returned from a six-month deployment to the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean.
The tour is free of charge and no reservations are required. CamÂeras are permitted, and walking shoes are highly recommended. No backpacks or handbags will be allowed onboard the ship. The vessel is not accessible to the handicapped.
Public entry will only be available via the station’s Wharf Gate, located on Seal Beach Boulevard, 200 yards south of the Pacific Coast Highway intersection. No access will be available from the station’s Main Gate.
Additional information and live updates can be found on the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach Facebook page. More information on USS Sampson can be located at www.sampson.navy.mil/.
Commencing operations in 1944 as a U.S. Naval Ammunition and Net Depot, Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach is the Pacific Fleet’s premier ordnance loading and storage installation. The base provides munitions for a majority of the fleet’s surface ships, and services approximately 50 U. S. Navy vessels annually.
