The 469-foot Japanese Navy frigate, a mass of gray steel, cast a shadow over the small crowd gathered to welcome the ship to Broadway Pier in Fells Point on Thursday morning.
The JDS Kashima arrived in Baltimore for public viewing this weekend as part of Sail Baltimore?s annual program to bring ships from all over the world for maritime events in Baltimore.
“It?s a good way to foster friendships between countries,” said Mike Di Mario, 69, a resident of Bowie who attended the welcoming ceremony. “Americans are notoriously ill-informed about our relations with other countries, and we need to do more of this.”
The crew was welcomed by Paul Swensen, president of Sail Baltimore, who called the ship “a floating classroom of surface warfare.”
In an exchange of gifts, including a Maryland flag given on behalf of Gov. Robert Ehrlich, the Kashima crew was thanked and welcomed into Baltimore?s original port.
The public will be able to tour the ship?s deck this weekend, meet crew members and get an idea of life at sea.
“The tour should be a lot of fun. The crew is so personable, and it?s an exchange of cultures,” Swensen said.
The Kashima is one of three vessels in the 2006 Japanese Training Squadron that left Tokyo on April 19 for 155 days at sea.
The vessel is used to prepare the 120 trainees in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, the equivalent of the U.S. Navy. The trainees range from 24 to 29 years old and have studied at the National Defense Academy or were internally recruited by the Japanese navy, according to Sasaki Taisei Noda of the meteorology staff of the Japanese Training Squadron.
Noda said the trainees attend classes and learn skills such as damage control, navigation, surface warfare and battle training while at sea.
But not all of their time in Baltimore will be spent on the ship. The Japanese embassy has arranged for the crew to visit the Pentagon on Saturday and the Naval Academy in Annapolis.
The vessel will be in Baltimore through Sunday before sailing on to Tampa, Fla. It will also visit ports in Canada, Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Honduras.
See it yourself
» JDS Kashima, Japanese Navy frigate at Broadway Pier, Fells Point, in Baltimore through Sunday.
» Tours offered 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., through Saturday
