The USS McFaul has just arrived in Mobile, and some of its crew members are already talking smack.

“I think Mobile needed a little something, something,” said Alexander Punch, a 27-year-old fire controlman aboard the Navy ship and a New Orleans native. He was asked to comment about Mobile having the oldest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States.

“It’s like giving your little cousin the Xbox controller,” said Punch.

He then turned a bit more serious, saying he was looking forward to seeing his family who will visit Mobile during the remainder of the Carnival festivities that run through Tuesday. Punch is one of approximately 300 crew members aboard the McFaul who will spend the remainder of the Carnival celebration in Alabama’s Port City.

“It will be wonderful to show them the ship and experience Mardi Gras in Mobile,” Punch said. “It’s great to be in the South again and to see friendly faces.”

The McFaul is this year’s Mardi Gras ship for Mobile. A celebration welcoming the ship to Mobile took place Friday along the waterfront north of the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center.

“In Mobile, we are born to celebrate,” said Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, who then offered up his cell phone number for the crew members. “If you celebrate too much, call me.”

Celebration

The celebration welcoming the ship to Mobile is a Mardi Gras tradition in the coastal city, featuring music from the city’s legendary Excelsior Band and greetings from the Azalea Trail Maids. The crewmates of the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park also show up to toss beads at the ship’s crew, who stand along the railing waving their hands for a throw.

The event also included family reunions. U.S. Navy Ensign Jackson Harber was greeted ashore by his parents, Kelly and Lawrence Harber of New Orleans, and one of his brothers. He will be joined by the rest of his family, including his fiancé, in the coming days.

“When we were chosen to come to Mobile, I was beyond thrilled,” Harber said. “We’re here for a good time.”

Almost every year, the U.S. Navy will assign a ship and its crew members to the city for the final days of the Carnival season. Mobile’s Mardi Gras will include parades and festivities from Friday night through Monday.

The Navy ship will also be open to the public for tours. The USS McFaul will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Saturday through Monday.

It’s the second time in five years that the McFaul has been temporarily stationed in Mobile for Mardi Gras. The ship was last in the city in February 2020, celebrating Mardi Gras right before the coronavirus pandemic.

Brian Campbell, the Navy League’s Mardi Gras liaison said ships are often selected each year by the Navy during a process that begins in July. By fall, the military will select the ship that will spend several days in the city for the holiday.

“If you go back to the Spanish American War, you had Navy ships coming to Mobile,” Campbell said. “We have made it a tradition over time. A precedence was set and unless there is a world event that stops it, we have a ship every year.”

Stimpson said the scene of Navy soldiers standing along the ship’s rails is “inspiring.”

SS United States

The SS United States passes under the Walt Whitman Bridge, enroute to Okaloosa County, Florida in Gloucester City, NJ on Wednesday, February 19, 2025.Dave Hernandez | For NJ Advance

Meanwhile, the mayor is paying attention to another ship that is slowly making its way into the city’s ship channel: The disabled SS United States, the massive ship that is nearly 1,000-feet-long, was in the Gulf of Mexico Friday and en route to the Mobile-based Modern American Recycling & Repair Services Inc. (MARRS) facility. The famed ocean-liner will be cleaned and prepared for a massive sinking off the Florida Gulf Coast where it will be turned into the world’s largest artificial reef.

Officials with Okaloosa County, Fla., which purchased the ship last year in hopes of creating a tourist opportunity by transforming it into an artificial reef, say the ship is likely not to arrive to Mobile until the middle of next week, weather dependent.

Related content: Mardi Gras to meet maritime history? SS United States to dock soon in Mobile

Stimpson said Mobile city officials have not been included in any updates about the ship. He said it’s not anything the city is coordinating or involved in organizing.

But the SS United States is likely to draw plenty of sightseers while it’s in Mobile. Already, harbor tours are being planned with excursions near the SS United States. The first is occurring on March 27 through Historic Blakeley State Park. Tickets are $39 for adults and $29 for children.

Stimpson said he hopes to learn about its arrival date. “I want to see it come in,” he said.