The might of the US Navy's Pacific fleet, a 40,000-tonne warship, sailed into harbour yesterday to become the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront's latest star attraction.
The USS Bonhomme Richard - French for "the good fellow Richard" - docked at the port with its 3,000 sailors and marines yesterday morning. They will stay in the city until Sunday.
But the vessel's arrival was marred by the massacre at the Navy Yard, the US Navy's headquarters, in Washington, in which 13 people - including the gunman - were killed.
The warship's commanding officer Captain Daniel Dusek said there were questions to be asked as to why the shooting happened.
"What drove that individual to take the axe that he did? Sometimes people are motivated in different ways to take drastic actions like that individual did," he said. "It's something we need to be aware of and [we need to be] prepared for such an incident to happen. Hopefully it never does."