{"id":251881,"date":"2026-04-16T02:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/251881\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T02:12:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:12:26","slug":"a-historic-sight-in-houston-as-fleet-week-gets-underway-for-the-first-time-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/251881\/","title":{"rendered":"A historic sight in Houston as Fleet Week gets underway for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Houston is officially making history, hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/lifestyle\/articles\/fleet-week-houston-heres-everything-114545555.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Fleet Week;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Fleet Week&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fleet Week<\/a> for the very first time as Navy ships arrive across the region and thousands of sailors and Marines descend on the city.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">At Bayport, the USS Kearsarge \u2014 the fleet\u2019s flagship \u2014 docked just before midday. The amphibious assault ship offers a closer look at its wide range of capabilities, including a medical wing designed to handle mass casualty situations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cIt\u2019s an amphibious assault ship, it carries U.S. Navy sailors and U.S. Marines, so a lot of combat capability,\u201d said Rear Adm. John Hewitt, commander of Navy Region Southeast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The USS St. Louis also arrived Tuesday, docking at Pier 8 in Houston, where the public will soon be able to step aboard. Free tours are scheduled to begin tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Fleet Week organizers say the event is designed to connect the military with the public and highlight the people behind the uniforms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe want to show the American taxpayer where your tax dollars are going,\u201d Hewitt said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of pride, and they want to engage with Houstonians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Service members also shared what the moment means to them. For Ensign Illyssa Bias, a Deer Park High School graduate serving aboard the flagship, the event was especially meaningful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cGetting to be part of this on my first ship\u2026 being able to come home is super exciting,\u201d Bias said. She added, \u201cShout out Deer Park, go Deer!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Outside Houston City Hall, the Fleet Week flag was raised to mark the start of the multi-day event. The flag was first brought ashore at Allen\u2019s Landing \u2014 the historic site where Houston was founded \u2014 before being carried through downtown by Marines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Officials say more than 180 events are planned across Houston in the coming days, including ship tours open to the public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Got a news tip or story idea? Email us at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/mailto:newstips@khou.com\" data-ylk=\"slk:newstips@khou.com;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;newstips@khou.com&quot;}\" class=\"link \" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">newstips@khou.com<\/a>\u00a0or call 713-521-4310 and include your name and the best way to reach you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston is officially making history, hosting Fleet Week for the very first time as Navy ships arrive across&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[95343,13376,56,4994,58,57,95344,51509,94612,95345],"class_list":{"0":"post-251881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-amphibious-assault-ship","9":"tag-fleet-week","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-city-hall","12":"tag-houston-headlines","13":"tag-houston-news","14":"tag-john-hewitt","15":"tag-marines","16":"tag-navy-ships","17":"tag-uss-kearsarge"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}