Last week we got a letter about someone driving home late at night and seeing “a really weird vessel being towed into Elliott Bay.” The letter writer described it as having a “big white orb on top, probably at least 10 stories tall. It was on top of a platform being tugged by a half dozen tug boats. It looked like a… I don’t know, but alien invaders definitely came to mind.”
Today for lunch I went to Pike Place Market and saw the thing with my own two orbs.
When I got back to the office, I called the port to ask about it.
“It’s a sea-based radar system,” according to Peter McGraw, the media officer for the seaport. “It can detect something as small as a baseball from 2,500 miles away.”
Here’s a fact-sheet for the Sea-Based X-Band Radar. McGraw added that the Seattle Times and the PI (first sentence: “It looks a little like the Death Star, but without the planet-destroying laser…”) and a few TV stations covered its arrival, and explained, “It’s getting some maintenance and a couple of additions.”
Like extra alien pods?
“No, it’s going to be able to be shore-power capable so it doesnt have to use its engines when its in port. It does use low-sulfur dieseal while on port.”
Does the port have any information about alien invasions it can share?
“You know, I don’t,” McGraw said. “There hasn’t been any that I know of.“
So, how many baseballs are there out there 25,000 miles away? Inquiring minds want to know.
Roswell was a smokescreen
Yup, you all are a little late on this story. West Seattle Blog started talking about this two weeks ago and showing us photos of the journey to Port of Seattle. They got the tip from Ravenna Blog. http://westseattleblog.com/2011/05/on-it…
http://westseattleblog.com/2011/05/updat…
http://westseattleblog.com/2011/05/updat…
Great photos in this link:
http://westseattleblog.com/2011/05/updat…
videos here:
http://westseattleblog.com/2011/05/follo…
As you said, Christoper, this was reported by the Times and was covered by TV news. It frightens me that your letter-writer seems to rely soley upon the Stranger for local news, and that you had to call the Port to find out what it is.
I understand that the Times isn’t everyone’s favorite news source, but really… The Stranger only describes one part of the Seattle elephant.
Hello and welcome to last weeks news.
Thanks! I was wondering what this was. I was going to email the Port of Seattle about it. You saved me the time.
I’m surprised I missed it in the West Seattle Blog
I work near the football stadium and this thing looks even weirder being just across from the north port.
@4 FTW.
I mean, I think you can see this thing from the two-block radius.
Kinda concerning that you hadn’t collided with this story whatsoever
I saw it when I was in Hawaii a couple years ago. Looks neat and all, but the system is basically useless as anything but a technology exercise (not to mention chest thumping and cash to contractors).
“Slog: We pride ourselves on not paying attention to any other local media. If we don’t stumble upon it or get an email alerting us to it, it didn’t happen.”
The coverup is always way more fun than the reality.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with our alien overlords … um, port officials …
@11 they also read tweets, especially when you make fun of them.
I was going to make a “Boring Report” joke about you not noticing much you can’t see from your apartment window, and then I looked up and realized I can see this ship from my apartment window. I hadn’t noticed it before. So…thanks for the tip.
Psst…. 5280…5280… the mention above of neighborhood blogs in our town reminded me of this item from our Capitol Hill Seattle blog, which has been covering a recent rash of burglaries on the blocks right around our own Dan’s house, burglaries that sometimes occurred while the residents were in the house sleeping.
Now you know how strongly I disagree with you about gun stuff, but I just can’t help myself pointing out for your benefit that after midnight last night someone on Dan’s street actually held a prowler at gunpoint until police arrived.
http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2011/0…
better late than never? haha, put down the marijuana my friend, did you know Osama Bin Laden was assassinated as well?
If you fuckers ever left the 2 block radius…I wee this from my balcony.
SEE. dammit.
So if it can see a baseball from 25,000 miles away, I’m sure it can see every detail in [gloomy]’s window, [wisepunk]’s balcony and [everyone other braggart that has a much better view than my house]’s roof deck. Perhaps it’s watching us more then we’re watching it.
I transcribed the number wrong, folks. It’s 2,500 miles. Although 25,000 miles would be WAY more impressive.
Fell over laughing @16. You totally win the pissing contest.
There must be some internetz law saying something to the effect that the most embarrassing and ridiculous of all possible typos is the one that will transpire.
Are there really people who rely on The Stranger for their sole source of news?
@21 probably Newt does. And Sarah Palin.
Gus @14: Thumbs up. There really are lots of stories like this. I had a friend in Atlanta e-mail me one from last night there, too. Only that burgler/rapist got himself killed.
This thing is right outside my office…it’s pretty striking how much bigger it looks up close 😀 We did some engineering work on it so we got to go climb around on it for a bit, but we weren’t allowed to bring cameras 🙁
I’m pretty sure it’s just Rover’s mama…
It’s not an alien device,.. it’s an alien tracking device. Everyone knows aliens fly around the ocean in baseball-sized craft. Duh!
I love tech and big floaty things and the smell of sea air and all… but this is why we spend more on defense than all the other countries of the world combined (dead horse, beaten to a pulp, but most people haven’t absorbed it yet). It’s a $1B gizmo with 85-100 souls aboard that can be sunk by a couple of $1M torpedoes or similarly priced missiles. Its stated function is to track incoming missiles and direct counter-fire, but that’s hardly a sure thing. Seems about as pointless as the rest of the high-ticket toys when it’s acknowledged that current and future wars will likely remain house-to-house and hand-to-hand.
that thing looks so FUCKING COOL
Hey, Christopher, have you noticed that a flying saucer-like object appears to have landed on a tower in Lower Queen Anne? You might want to call Seattle Center officials and ask them what it’s doing there.