Goodbye SBX! Goodbye!! The Sea Based X-Band Radar arrived at Seattle’s Harbor Island on May 10, 2011 for upgrades and repairs at Vigor Shipyards (f/k/a Todd Shipyards). This massive radar is one of the sensors which helps protect the USA from ballistic missile attack. It is said it is sensitive enough to track a soft ball sized object in Seattle if it were anchored off the east coast of the U.S. The radar is as tall as a 28 story building and is mounted on a semi-submersible oil drilling rig. The SBX radar was in the shipyards for upgrades and repairs to be accomplished by the Boeing Company. Repairs were completed and she was scheduled to begin moving out of Seattle’s Elliott Bay to Puget Sound yesterday morning, August 20. Rather than sitting at Alki Beach for hours waiting for the radar to move, I ‘watched’ the SBX sitting at Vigor through ‘Live Ships Map.’ On the live map, at about 10:45 I saw two Foss tugboats position next to her (one being the Andrew Foss) and two Coast Guard boats, the Terrapin and Osprey. The Coast Guard was standing by and traveling with the radar to enforce the safety zone around her as she moved. As soon as I saw the first movement I grabbed my camera gear and headed for Alki, and managed to get this great shot of the radar with the Space Needle in the distance. The radar was towed slowly (about 5.7 knots = 6.5 mph) and arrived off Port Townsend at the Strait of Juan de Fuca last night at about 21:30. This morning she has disappeared from the live ship map to continue on her voyage for deployment at an unknown destination.
Over the three months the radar has stayed in Seattle, many visitors to my blog have come looking for information about the radar and have read one or all of my four posts featuring the SBX, one night panorama, one night close up, one daylight shot and lastly one when the radar was moved temporarily to Elliott Bay to allow the Kulluk oil rig to be moved into Vigor.
Amazing what these things can do. Enjoyed the post today.
It is amazing, isn’t it? It is massive as well…
I like how you used the Space Needle in the background to convey that you are in Seattle. Nice job , Madge.
I was hoping to get a shot when she passed the Space Needle and was fortunate enough to get just what I wanted.
What a cool photo and thanks for the information. Very interesting.. I had no idea! :)
Thanks, Nancy and you’re welcome. I’d never heard of the SBX either until she came here for repairs. A lot of people looked for information about it too.
Great image! Love it.
Thanks, Luis…
That is absolutely fascinating, great for you to track its visit.
It has been very interesting watching and learning about this radar…
this is fascinating, to be sure. it makes me feel safer somehow. what a strange looking object though. I like that you’ve captured it in various lights and perspectives, making a story of it’s summer journey. thanks for sharing. I’m intrigued!!! happy Sunday to you.
Yes.. I know what you mean… until this radar came into Seattle I never really gave our missile defense system much thought…
That was a fantastic shot with accurate information!
Thanks… I enjoy learning about things… this was fascinating!
Isn’t that ship tracking site great? I keep an eye on it daily, checking to see what’s coming up the coast to Powell River.
It is great!! I try to keep an eye on it as well… I love vessel traffic, I worked on the Seattle waterfront for twenty years… I never tire of the ships! ;-)
Fascinating! Enjoyed reading this post. I’ll have to check out more of your blog when I recover from my trip. Thanks for dropping by my blog and for the kind note.
Thanks, Gail!
Wow. This photo came me a quick feeling of deja vu…a memory of a particular port in Vancouver BC.
You have the eye for great photographs, I’ve been oohing ahhing over quite a few of them.
Thanks so much for the lovely comment on my blog!
I’ll be back!
Thank you, Colleen for your kind compliment!
Really a wonderful composition of the radar platform and the Seattle skyline! Fascinating story too.
Thanks, Doug… I’m glad you found this as interesting as I did!