Japan, Russia and U.S. warships to dock in S.F.

San Francisco will host sailors from three different navies this weekend, including a port call by a U.S. cruiser, a Japanese training squadron and a rare visit by a Russian guided missile cruiser.

All the ships - except the cruiser USS Bunker Hill - will be open for public tours next week.

The first vessels to arrive will be three ships from the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, as the Japanese navy is called. The three, led by the training vessel Kashima, are expected at the Golden Gate Bridge around 12:30 p.m. today. They will anchor in the bay and tie up Monday at Pier 27 on the Embarcadero. A welcome ceremony, open to the public, will be held Monday at 9:30 a.m.

The Japanese ships will be open to the public that day from 9 to 11 a.m. and from 2 to 4 p.m.

The USS Bunker Hill will sail under the Golden Gate Bridge at 2:30 p.m. today and will tie up at Pier 17. The ship will not be open to the public.

The Russian guided missile cruiser Varyag is expected under the Golden Gate Bridge about 1 p.m. Sunday. It will dock at Pier 30-32, south of the Bay Bridge about 2 p.m.

Though Russian commercial ships and smaller research and Russian coast guard vessels have called at San Francisco Bay, no Russian warship as large as a cruiser has visited San Francisco in many years.

The Varyag will be open to the public on Thursday, probably from about 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

E-mail Carl Nolte at cnolte@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle