I saw the USS New York from the ferry on Saturday. Though it could be mistaken by the layman for an aircraft carrier, the vessel is actually classified as an amphibious transport dock.
Shortly after 11 September 2001, Governor of New York George E. Pataki wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. Englandrequesting that the Navy bestow the name USS New York on a surface warship involved in the War on Terrorism in honor of the victims of the September 11 attacks.
The contract to build the New York was awarded to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2003. TheNew York was under construction in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
7.5 short tons (6.8 t) of the steel used in the ship’s construction came from the rubble of the World Trade Center; this represents less than one thousandth of the total weight of the ship. wikipedia
The vessel was christened 3/1/08 in New Orleans and commissioned 11/7/09 in New York. It is the 7th US Navy vessel to bear the name New York.
3 comments
Nice shot Kevin. However she sure ain’t no bird farm.
Not an aircraft carrier, althogh she has a large flight deck aft. she carries a bunch of Marines, along with choppers and hovercraft to get them ashore to fight. Pretty scary looking with the slanty sides and enclosed masts, the shape is designed to be somewhat stealthy to radar.
Its too bad that New York didn’t attmpt to purchase th old battleship USS New York from the Navy at the end of WW2. The ship was built in 1912 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and served in both WW1 and WW2, and ended up being used in the atomic bomb tests and then for target practice for naval figters & bombers. After a terrible pounding she rolled over and went beneath the waves off of Oahu
What a shame that a glorious piece of history was discarded and thrown away like a piece of garbage.
Her sister ship USS Texas is now a museum.