DETROIT, MI — Joe Elser was on his cell phone when he heard a blast and saw smoke billowing out from behind trees along the Detroit River.

"I was like, `They're shooting, they're shooting!,'" said Elser, able seaman on the tugboat Colonel, which is towing the USS Edson Navy destroyer to Bay City. "I wasn't expecting it at all."

The USS Edson, which is set to arrive in Bay City at 6 a.m. Tuesday, was not under fire. Instead, the decommissioned vessel was being saluted.

Detroit's Historic Fort Wayne honored the USS Edson with a blast from a Civil War-era cannon as it neared the former military base. Thomas Berlucchi, chairman of the Historic Fort Wayne Coalition, said that it was customary to fire a salute to naval ships that sailed by the fort when it was an active U.S. Army base, from 1851 to 1971.

"Captain Felarise blew the horn back," Elser said. "It was was pretty neat; we have had a lot of people stopping and taking pictures, but we haven't had a cannon salute before."

The USS Edson completed the passage through the Detroit River to Lake Huron Monday morning. Elser said that Port Huron was visible in the distance.

The captain projects the ship's arrival at the mouth of the Saginaw River around 6 a.m. Tuesday. The USS Edson could make it to Bay City late tonight, but the tugboat crew is slowing its cruise in an effort to time the arrival with daylight.

"The plan is to make sure we are in your neck of the woods for daylight," Elser said. "We are going to be slowing down in a short while here."

The tugboat faced rough seas over the weekend as it traversed Lake Erie, traveling into an area where signal reception became nonexistent. The waters are currently forecast to be calm for the final stretch of the journey.

"It was pretty rough and sloppy," Elser said. "We had some high winds and probably lost about two hours there."

Elser said that the captain plans to keep the tugboat as close to land as possible, so as not to lose reception with the shore.

Mike Hartman, a member of the Historic Fort Wayne Coalition, captured the cannon salute to the USS Edson on video. About 40 spectators were present during the salute.

Berlucchi said that around 100 members of the coalition plan to visit Bangor Township later this fall to visit the USS Edson.

"An absolutely beautiful ship is coming to Bay City," Berlucchi said. "The museum ought to be proud."

The tugboat will lead the Edson to Wirt Stone Dock, located a quarter mile downriver from the Independence Bridge. It will dock there temporarily until mooring installation is complete at its permanent location near the Independence Bridge Boat Launch.

Visitors can expect to first tour the USS Edson around September. The Edson will serve as the floating centerpiece of the Saginaw Valley Naval Ship Museum. In April, the Navy announced it was donating the ship to the museum.

The destroyer got under way from Philadelphia on Wednesday July 18. The ship's departure marked the beginning of a journey across 2,436 miles of ocean and freshwater from the East Coast to Bay City.