Article Posted on : - Oct 15, 2009

The US Navy's new amphibious assault vessel, 684 feet long and built at a cost of $1.2bn (£750m), earned a rousing reception as it nosed its way out of the Mississippi to the Atlantic on 15th October, 2009.

The USS New York (LPD-21) is the fifth San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. The US Navy bestowed the name USS New York on a surface warship involved in the War on Terror in honour of September 11's victims.

History

The USS New York (LPD-21) is the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named after the state of New York.

The first USS New York was a gondola, built in 1776. The second New York was a 36-gun frigate commissioned on 1800. The third New York was a 74-gun ship of the line, laid down in 1820. The fourth New York (CA-2) was an armoured cruiser commissioned in 1893. The fifth New York (BB-34) was a battleship that saw action in both World War I and World War II.

USS New York - Amphibious Transport Dock

The USS New York was built at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Avondale Division, New Orleans, Louisiana.

A part of the USS New York warship's frame was built using 7.5 tonnes of steel salvaged from the rubble from the World Trade Centre. Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down at Amite Foundry and Machine in Amite, Louisiana to cast the ship's bow section. The shipyard and Navy inspected the steel and found that it was of sufficient material strength so that it could be incorporated into the bow stem of New York.

The USS New York uses Four Colt-Pielstick PC2.5 STC Turbocharged Marine Diesel Engines with Inboard Rotating Rolls-Royce Controllable Pitch Propellers. The engine was selected to power the LPD-17 San Antonio Class vessels. Four engines are installed per ship, two per reduction gear, with each shaft driving controllable pitch propellers. Each engine is rated at 7755 kW at 520 rpm.

The warship can carry a crew of 360 sailors and 800 Marines. It has a flight deck that can handle helicopters and the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

The ship will be used to transport and land Marines, their equipment and supplies by embarked air cushions or conventional landing craft or amphibious vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical take off and landing aircraft in amphibious assault, special operations, or expeditionary warfare missions.

The first four ships in the series — the San Antonio, New Orleans, Mesa Verde and Green Bay — are in service. There are four other ships in the class under construction: Somerset and Anchorage at the Avondale yard, and Arlington and San Diego at Northrop Grumman’s yard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Arlington and Somerset also carry names connected to Sept. 11: Arlington for the attack on the Pentagon and Somerset for the Pennsylvania county in which United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after being hijacked.

The $1.2 billion ship will be formally commissioned in New York in early November. The ship’s official motto is "Never Forget."

- Courtesy:
      USS NEW YORK Website
      Global Security website