Soaring Blue Angels, parading ships highlight San Francisco Fleet Week

The tall ships will parade into San Francisco Bay, and the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels will take to the skies for San Francisco’s annual Fleet Week. U.S. Navy Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Cape St. George sails through the Bay during San Francisco Fleet Week on Oct. 9, 2026. (Alex Byler/U.S. Navy) (Tribune News Service) — The tall ships will parade into San Francisco Bay, and the U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels will take to the skies for San Francisco’s annual Fleet Week, a celebration of the nation’s Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard that runs through Monday. Activities include a Fleet Fest at Fisherman’s Wharf, more than 25 free military band performances throughout the city (including two bands playing in the Italian Heritage Parade on Sunday), a K-9 police dog demonstration, a STEM festival and a high school band challenge.

Want a glimpse of day-to-day shipboard life? Free ship tours are offered at various piers on the San Francisco waterfront. On Friday, the largest Parade of Ships on the West Coast sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge into the bay, with the water-spouting San Francisco Fire Department boat leading the way. A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, part of the Blue Angels, flies over San Francisco Bay during San Francisco Fleet Week on Oct. 9, 2026. (Matt Hall/U.S. Navy) The Blue