USS New York (LPD-21)

For other ships of the same name, see USS New York.
New York in the Hudson River on 2 November 2009.
History
Name: USS New York
Namesake: The state of New York[1]
Awarded: 25 November 2003[2]
Builder: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems[2]
Laid down: 10 September 2004[2]
Launched: 19 December 2007[2]
Christened: 1 March 2008
Acquired: 21 August 2009[2]
Commissioned: 7 November 2009[3]
Homeport: Naval Station Mayport
Motto: "Strength forged through sacrifice. Never forget."
Status: in active service, as of 2016[2]
Badge:
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 (25 mph; 41 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried:
Capacity:
  • Embarked Landing Force: 699
  • (66 officers, 633 enlisted)
  • surge capacity to 800.
Complement: 28 officers, 332 enlisted
Armament:
Aircraft carried:

USS New York (LPD-21), the fifth San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named after the state of New York.[1][4] New York has a crew of 360 and can carry up to 700 Marines. It is notable for using a symbolic amount of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center after it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks.[1]

Construction

Steel from the World Trade Center is melted and poured for construction of New York, September 2003.

The ship is the first to be designed fully from the CAD-screen up to support all of the Marines' primary mobility capabilities—Landing Craft Air Cushion and MV-22B Osprey.[5]

Shortly after 11 September 2001, Governor of New York George E. Pataki wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England requesting that the Navy bestow the name "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 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 in 2005.[6]

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.[7] The steel 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 7 short tons (6.4 t) 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 delayed his retirement after 40 years of working to be part of the project.[8]

Sister ships announced

On 9 September 2004 Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England announced that two of New York's sister ships will be named Arlington and Somerset in commemoration of the places where two of the other planes used in the attack came down: Arlington County, Virginia, and Somerset County, Pennsylvania.[9]

Christening

New York was christened on 1 March 2008, in a ceremony at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans. 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 R. England, members of the New York City Police Department and the New York City Fire Department, and family members of 11 September 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.

The ship was delivered to the Navy on 21 August 2009 at New Orleans. The ship's delivery was accepted by its first commanding officer, Commander F. Curtis Jones, USN, a native of Binghamton, New York.[10] She set sail for Norfolk, Virginia, on 13 October 2009.[11] On 2 November 2009 the ship passed the World Trade Center site for the first time and gave the site a 21-gun salute.[3][12]

Commissioning and trials

The ship commissioning of USS New York took place on 7 November 2009, in New York City. Speakers included Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, Gov. David Paterson, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead, and Commandant of the Marine Corps General James T. Conway.[13]

Approximately one in seven of the plank owners are from New York state, a larger number than usual.[14]

On 11 January 2010, the Navy announced that the ship would have to undergo repairs for faulty engine parts after a premature failure of bearings on the ship’s main propulsion diesel engines during a week-long sea trial following the November commissioning. The Navy did not say how long the ship would be docked.[15] The current Commanding Officer is CAPT Jon C. Kreitz.

Service history

On 10 June 2012 the ship was deployed for the first time to the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf region.[16] It deployed with Marines from 1st Battalion, 2d Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division and returned in December 2012 along with the USS Iwo Jima and the USS Gunston Hall with Marines from the same unit attached to all three ships.

In late 2013, the New York shifted homeport from Norfolk to Naval Station Mayport in Florida, as part of the Iwo Jima ARG move.[17]

In June 2014, the ship was used to transport Ahmed Abu Khattala, suspected mastermind of the 2012 Benghazi attack on the American diplomatic mission at Benghazi, back to the United States.[18]

Gallery

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 USS New York (LPD 21) Brief History. Navy.mil
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "USS New York (LPD 21)". Naval Vessel Register. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  3. 1 2 USS New York (LPD 21) Official site – Commissioning
  4. ↑ The ship is named for the state of New York, not the city. From the US Navy: "USS New York (LPD 21) is the fifth U.S. ship to be named for the state of New York." Also, from Secretary of the Navy Gordon England, quoted on the official Navy website for the ship, "From the war for independence through the war on terrorism, which we wage today, the courage and heroism of the people of New York has been an inspiration. USS New York will play an important role in our Navy's future and will be a fitting tribute to the people of the Empire State." Source: https://www.pms317.navy.mil/ships/lpd21.asp
  5. ↑ Paisley, Pinch (1 March 2008). "USS New York Christened". Defense Tech (Military Advantage). Retrieved 2010-05-04.
  6. ↑ Staff writer (4 April 2007). "Navy Ship with WTC Steel Survived Katrina's Assault". The Associated Press via St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  7. ↑ http://www.ussny.org/faq.php
  8. ↑ Baldwin, Tom (22 May 2005). "Warship Built Out of Twin Towers Wreckage", The Times. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  9. ↑ Deepti Hajela (2 November 2009). "Ship Built With WTC Steel Comes to Namesake City". Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  10. ↑ Sayre, Alan (23 August 2009). "Navy Takes Delivery of Amphib New York". The Associated Press via Military Times.
  11. ↑ "USS New York to stop in Norfolk". ussnewyork.com. 20 October 2009.
  12. ↑ Graham, MC1 Shawn D. (14 October 2009). "USS New York Departs the Banks of the Mississippi". Headquarters Marine Corps. United States Marine Corps. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  13. ↑ Navy To Commission Amphibious Transport Dock Ship New York, U.S. Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) News Release, 4 November 2009.
  14. ↑ BBC News (11 February 2009). "'Twin Towers' warship enters NY". BBC News. Retrieved: 2009-11-02.
  15. ↑ Reilly, Corinne. "Newly Commissioned New York Faces Repairs". Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, 12 January 2010.
  16. ↑ "U.S. FIFTH FLEET AREA OF OPERATIONS". US Navy. Retrieved 11 December 2012.
  17. ↑ BURGESS, RICHARD R. (30 October 2013). "LPD New York Shifts to Mayport in December". SEAPOWER Magazine. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  18. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/29/world/africa/libyan-suspected-in-benghazi-mission-attack-arrives-in-washington.html

References

External links

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