 |
|
| Career (US) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS New York |
| Namesake: | The State of New York |
| Awarded: | 2003-11-25 |
| Builder: | Northrop Grumman Ship Systems |
| Laid down: | 2004-09-10 |
| Launched: | 2007-12-20 |
| Christened: | 2008-03-01 |
| Commissioned: | November 7, 2009 (scheduled)[1] |
| Motto: | "Strength forged through sacrifice. Never forget." |
| Status: | Christened |
| Badge: | -COA.png) |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock |
| Displacement: | 24,900 tons full |
| Length: | 208.5 m (684 ft) overall, 201.4 m (661 ft) waterline |
| Beam: | 31.9 m (105 ft) extreme, 29.5 m (97 ft) waterline |
| Draft: | 7 m (23 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Four sequentially turbocharged marine Colt-Pielstick diesel engines, two shafts, 41,600 shp (30 MW) |
| Speed: | In excess of 22 knots (24.2 mph)(41 km/h) |
| Boats and landing craft carried: |
2 Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC)s or 1 Landing Craft, Utility (LCU); 14 Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles (EFV) or 14 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV)s |
| Capacity: | Embarked Landing Force: 699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted) surge capacity to 800. |
| Complement: | 28 officers, 332 enlisted) |
| Armament: | Two Bushmaster II 30 mm Close in Guns, fore and aft two Rolling Airframe Missiles, fore and aft. |
| Aircraft carried: | Launch or land two CH53E Super Stallion two MV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft four CH-46 Sea Knight four AH-1 SeaCobra or four UH-1 Iroquois helicopters. |
USS New York (LPD-21), the fifth ship in the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of New York. The ship was designed to deliver a fully-equipped battalion of 700 Marines.
The ship is the first to be fully designed from the CAD-screen up to support all three of the Marines' primary mobility capabilities—Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), Landing Craft, Landing Craft Air Cushioned vehicle and the MV-22 Osprey.[2]
Shortly after 11 September 2001, Governor of New York George E. Pataki wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England requesting that the Navy bestow the name USS New York on a surface warship involved in the War on Terror in honor of September 11's victims. In his letter, the Governor said he understood state names are currently reserved for submarines, but asked for special consideration so the name could be given to a surface ship. The request was approved 28 August 2002.
Seven and a half tons of the steel used in its construction came from the rubble from the World Trade Center. Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down at Amite Foundry and Machine in Amite, Louisiana to cast the ship's bow section. It was poured into the molds on 9 September 2003. With seven tons melted down and cast to form the ship's "stem bar" — part of the ship's bow. The shipyard workers reportedly treated it with "reverence usually accorded to religious relics", gently touching it as they walked by. One worker actually delayed his retirement after 40 years' work in order to be a part of the project.[3]
On 9 September 2004, the Secretary of the Navy announced that two of her sister ships will be named Arlington and Somerset, in commemoration of the places two of the other planes used in the attack came down: Somerset County, Pennsylvania and Arlington, Virginia.
The contract to build New York was awarded to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana in 2003. New York was under construction in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina.[4]
Contents |
Christening
New York was christened on 1 March 2008, in a ceremony at Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, Louisiana. Dotty England, the ship’s sponsor, smashed the traditional champagne bottle on the ship’s bow and christened the ship New York. Several dignitaries were in attendance, including Louisiana Congressman William J. Jefferson, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, members of the New York Police Department and New York Fire Department, and family members of 9/11 victims. The champagne bottle did not break the first time it was struck against the hull of the ship, but the second attempt was successful.
Commissioning
The ship commissioning of USS New York, is planned to take place in the fall of 2009.[5]
The prospective commanding officer is Commander F. Curtis Jones, a native of Binghamton, New York.[6]
References
This article contains information from the Naval Vessel Registry and various other US Navy Web sites.
- ^ [1] November 11, 2008 announcement by the Commissioning Committee, Governor David Paterson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Retrieved 26 December 2009
- ^ http://www.defensetech.org/ 01 March 2008
- ^ Tom Baldwin, "Warship built out of Twin Towers wreckage", Times Online, 22 May 2005.
- ^ Associated Press, "Navy ship with WTC steel survived Katrina's assault", Worldandnation, 4 April 2006.
- ^ "The Commissioning Schedule of Events", Official website
- ^ History of the USS New York
External links
- News Article
- USS New York entry in the Naval Vessel Register
- FOX News story about the ship's christening
- US Navy's fact sheet about the USS New York
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
