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USS NEW YORK is not a new name. We are actually the fifth ship to have that name. There
were a few others who sort of got named that but never made it out to sea so as far as I am
concerned I am not counting them. I like it because this ship is also the fifth ship of the class.
We have had ships that have fought in every major conflict that the US has been a part of starting
with the Revolutionary War, World War I and World War II and then here is USS NEW YORK
as we come out.
What is so significant [about this NEW YORK]? First, is the World Trade Center steel that
is in the bow of the ship. Seven and a half tons [of steel from the Twin Towers] have been built
into the bow stem. That is the strongest part of the ship and it is what is leading us through the
waters. So, we are being led by the sacrifice and the spirit of those who have gone before us.
I visited the ship right before I went to Afghanistan for awhile. She was up on the blocks
and I had the opportunity to walk around. I walked under the hull and touched her for the first
time and every hair on my body stood on end. It is that kind of ship. This crew is going to make
her even more of that kind of ship.
Our motto is "Strength forged through sacrifice - - Never forget." That talks to so many
things. It talks to the events of September 11th. But, it also talks to the daily events that our
crew members and their families do on an everyday basis - - the sacrifices they make as we go
and deploy and do things.
The crest tries to draw on things that have come before us. You have got the seven rays that
point to the Statue of Liberty. Also, the whole upper portion comes from the [New York] State
seal. We took out Henry Hudson going up the river but otherwise that comes directly from the
State seal as does the outline of the shield. You have got the Twin Towers there with the bow of
the ship in between to commemorate the steel that is built into the bow of the ship. The phoenix
rising and the three colors that are on the breastplate of the phoenix are the colors that represent
the New York Police Department, the Fire Department and the Port Authority. The three stars
represent the three battle stars from USS NEW YORK (BB 34) that were won in North Africa,
Iwo Jima and Okinawa. We have got the crossed swords. Those are the NCO's swords and the
chief petty officer's sabers from the Marine Corps and the Navy.
Our mission is to transport our 700 Marines [800 on a surge] and their equipment and take
them wherever we need to go. Sometimes that is a place where we have friends, sometimes it is
not, so we have to be prepared to do just about everything. We are a very flexible ship and we
can fulfill any kind of role ranging from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief - - the kind of
thing we saw in New Orleans, Pakistan and Indonesia - - all the way through full combat
operations. It is a well-built, well-armored ship.
This ship replaces four classes of amphibious ships. First, the old LSTs, the LKAs, the old
steam-powered LSDs and finally the LPDs that are still in service, the Austin-class LPDs. We
have the space onboard to carry 24,000 square feet of rolling stock and an additional 34,000
square feet of ammunition and cargo storage. That far outdistances any of those old classes. In
addition to the air capability that we have, the full combat capability that we have, we will do
things and be integrated into the overall Navy network for warfighting in ways that are
unprecedented. I would argue that the LHAs and LHDs with their full flag suites are not very
far in front of us in that respect.
It is a big ship: 684 feet long and 105 feet across. That makes her the third biggest ship in
the Navy behind aircraft carriers and LHAs and LHDs. She is 26,000 tons and she can go over
22 knots. [There are four sequentially turbocharged] ColtPielstick engines for propulsion and
Caterpillars for electrical generation.
It can carry just about everything that can take off vertically in the Navy including the new
CH 53s, 46s, and the MV 22 Osprey tilt rotors. We were basically built to take [the Osprey]
and we can land and launch those two at a time.
[For defense, the ship will have] 30 mm guns - - the same thing you find on the new
Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle that the Marines will be coming out with - - and rolling airframe
missiles forward and aft.
[NEW YORK will also be able to transport Marines and equipment by water]. What we
use are LCACs, the hovercraft, and LCUs to get the stuff on the ship to the beach whether it be
tanks, howitzers, trucks or whatever. Then we take the EFVs or amphibious assault vehicles.
Right now, we are structured to fight as part of an expeditionary strike group, which would
be what some have known as an amphibious readiness group - - LHAs and LHDs, an LPD, an
LSD, a submarine, a DDG and a CG. However, we seem to be moving back towards the parts
going by themselves. This ship has the ability to independently operate, more so than an LSD,
LHA or LHD. Traditionally, LPDs have done that and this ship is even better equipped to go do
that. I do expect to go do things on my own quite a bit away from everybody else.
I'll have 360 crew members. Of that, I have 90 that have reported in already. I don't have a
hand in most of the selection process. Navy Personnel Command assigns them to me. We get
them assigned to us in waves. We have the first and part of the second wave. Everybody spends
time in Norfork and goes to school and does a bunch of other things.
My first six people have just shown up in Avondale where the ship is being built. Over
time, we will get the [crew] phased in down there. They [will go] around the ship, learn it, take
notes, find problems so we can address those with the contractors.
When it comes time for delivery, that first day, we stand watches, prepare meals, do force
protection. That day is the first day that we have to operate the ship and there is no warm-up
period at that point. So what we are doing over the next nine months is getting to that point.
We will spend the next year doing a lot of training. I have some [people] out on SAN
ANTONIO (LPD 17), which just deployed for the first time. I have got people on MESA
VERDE (LPD 19) - - we are trying to do training as much as we can around the water to give
people experience.
Roughly 25 percent [of the crew], currently, [are female]. I do not know what the final
number will be, not everyone has been assigned to the ship. But all the berthing is set up so that
it can be either gender. When I take a look at the overall manning of the Navy that is the kind of
number I expect that we will see - - between female and male 25 percent and 75 percent.
You may have heard about some of the class problems - - problems with [LPD] 17, 18 and
19, SAN ANTONIO, NEW ORLEANS and MESA VERDE had in their construction process.
[However,] when we put 21 in the water, there were no leaks on the ship, none whatsoever,
from around the shafts, any place and that was the first time that that had happened. I thought
that was pretty auspicious.
This ship is in many ways more technically advanced than any other class that we have out
there. That is good [but] sometimes has its challenges. One of the challenges we have had in the
class is getting what they call the "SWAN" to work correctly. The SWAN is the Ship-wide
Area Network. In every other ship that we have in operation, you use that for all of your IT
[Information Technology] kinds of things. It is a little bit more for us. I can't actually operate
my engines unless my SWAN is working correctly. I can't do most anything without my SWAN
working correctly.
The first time we did it there were a lot of problems involved with that system. They have
worked out a lot of those bugs. USS GREEN BAY which is LPD 20, my predecessor, will
leave Avondale in about two months. She has done her acceptance trials [and they] were nearly
flawless. I had the opportunity to ride her during it. The ship performed magnificently.
What we have seen is that 17 and 18 really got hammered by the hurricanes [Katrina and
Rita] and the effects there. 19 was a little bit better. 20 is quite a bit better and 21 is moving
even the next step past 20. Part of it was the shipyard learning how to build this ship. Part of it
was the technology that was put in and the way some of the things were put together in that
process. The whole organization, the program office, the ship builder have learned quite a bit
and have really made quite a bit of progress.
[On 1 March 2008, Mrs. Dotty England named the ship]. It was a great day, we had a great
celebration.
Prior to delivery we will do what they call builder's trials and acceptance trials. Right
now, those are scheduled for the April and May timeframe of next year. Delivery is the day the
ship builder turns it over to the Navy and I sign the same form that we sign for pencils and paper
to sign for a $1.3 billion ship.
We are hoping to do the commissioning here next fall.
Information about the commissioning can be found at www.ussny.org.
were a few others who sort of got named that but never made it out to sea so as far as I am
concerned I am not counting them. I like it because this ship is also the fifth ship of the class.
We have had ships that have fought in every major conflict that the US has been a part of starting
with the Revolutionary War, World War I and World War II and then here is USS NEW YORK
as we come out.
What is so significant [about this NEW YORK]? First, is the World Trade Center steel that
is in the bow of the ship. Seven and a half tons [of steel from the Twin Towers] have been built
into the bow stem. That is the strongest part of the ship and it is what is leading us through the
waters. So, we are being led by the sacrifice and the spirit of those who have gone before us.
I visited the ship right before I went to Afghanistan for awhile. She was up on the blocks
and I had the opportunity to walk around. I walked under the hull and touched her for the first
time and every hair on my body stood on end. It is that kind of ship. This crew is going to make
her even more of that kind of ship.
Our motto is "Strength forged through sacrifice - - Never forget." That talks to so many
things. It talks to the events of September 11th. But, it also talks to the daily events that our
crew members and their families do on an everyday basis - - the sacrifices they make as we go
and deploy and do things.
The crest tries to draw on things that have come before us. You have got the seven rays that
point to the Statue of Liberty. Also, the whole upper portion comes from the [New York] State
seal. We took out Henry Hudson going up the river but otherwise that comes directly from the
State seal as does the outline of the shield. You have got the Twin Towers there with the bow of
the ship in between to commemorate the steel that is built into the bow of the ship. The phoenix
rising and the three colors that are on the breastplate of the phoenix are the colors that represent
the New York Police Department, the Fire Department and the Port Authority. The three stars
represent the three battle stars from USS NEW YORK (BB 34) that were won in North Africa,
Iwo Jima and Okinawa. We have got the crossed swords. Those are the NCO's swords and the
chief petty officer's sabers from the Marine Corps and the Navy.
Our mission is to transport our 700 Marines [800 on a surge] and their equipment and take
them wherever we need to go. Sometimes that is a place where we have friends, sometimes it is
not, so we have to be prepared to do just about everything. We are a very flexible ship and we
can fulfill any kind of role ranging from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief - - the kind of
thing we saw in New Orleans, Pakistan and Indonesia - - all the way through full combat
operations. It is a well-built, well-armored ship.
This ship replaces four classes of amphibious ships. First, the old LSTs, the LKAs, the old
steam-powered LSDs and finally the LPDs that are still in service, the Austin-class LPDs. We
have the space onboard to carry 24,000 square feet of rolling stock and an additional 34,000
square feet of ammunition and cargo storage. That far outdistances any of those old classes. In
addition to the air capability that we have, the full combat capability that we have, we will do
things and be integrated into the overall Navy network for warfighting in ways that are
unprecedented. I would argue that the LHAs and LHDs with their full flag suites are not very
far in front of us in that respect.
It is a big ship: 684 feet long and 105 feet across. That makes her the third biggest ship in
the Navy behind aircraft carriers and LHAs and LHDs. She is 26,000 tons and she can go over
22 knots. [There are four sequentially turbocharged] ColtPielstick engines for propulsion and
Caterpillars for electrical generation.
It can carry just about everything that can take off vertically in the Navy including the new
CH 53s, 46s, and the MV 22 Osprey tilt rotors. We were basically built to take [the Osprey]
and we can land and launch those two at a time.
[For defense, the ship will have] 30 mm guns - - the same thing you find on the new
Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle that the Marines will be coming out with - - and rolling airframe
missiles forward and aft.
[NEW YORK will also be able to transport Marines and equipment by water]. What we
use are LCACs, the hovercraft, and LCUs to get the stuff on the ship to the beach whether it be
tanks, howitzers, trucks or whatever. Then we take the EFVs or amphibious assault vehicles.
Right now, we are structured to fight as part of an expeditionary strike group, which would
be what some have known as an amphibious readiness group - - LHAs and LHDs, an LPD, an
LSD, a submarine, a DDG and a CG. However, we seem to be moving back towards the parts
going by themselves. This ship has the ability to independently operate, more so than an LSD,
LHA or LHD. Traditionally, LPDs have done that and this ship is even better equipped to go do
that. I do expect to go do things on my own quite a bit away from everybody else.
I'll have 360 crew members. Of that, I have 90 that have reported in already. I don't have a
hand in most of the selection process. Navy Personnel Command assigns them to me. We get
them assigned to us in waves. We have the first and part of the second wave. Everybody spends
time in Norfork and goes to school and does a bunch of other things.
My first six people have just shown up in Avondale where the ship is being built. Over
time, we will get the [crew] phased in down there. They [will go] around the ship, learn it, take
notes, find problems so we can address those with the contractors.
When it comes time for delivery, that first day, we stand watches, prepare meals, do force
protection. That day is the first day that we have to operate the ship and there is no warm-up
period at that point. So what we are doing over the next nine months is getting to that point.
We will spend the next year doing a lot of training. I have some [people] out on SAN
ANTONIO (LPD 17), which just deployed for the first time. I have got people on MESA
VERDE (LPD 19) - - we are trying to do training as much as we can around the water to give
people experience.
Roughly 25 percent [of the crew], currently, [are female]. I do not know what the final
number will be, not everyone has been assigned to the ship. But all the berthing is set up so that
it can be either gender. When I take a look at the overall manning of the Navy that is the kind of
number I expect that we will see - - between female and male 25 percent and 75 percent.
You may have heard about some of the class problems - - problems with [LPD] 17, 18 and
19, SAN ANTONIO, NEW ORLEANS and MESA VERDE had in their construction process.
[However,] when we put 21 in the water, there were no leaks on the ship, none whatsoever,
from around the shafts, any place and that was the first time that that had happened. I thought
that was pretty auspicious.
This ship is in many ways more technically advanced than any other class that we have out
there. That is good [but] sometimes has its challenges. One of the challenges we have had in the
class is getting what they call the "SWAN" to work correctly. The SWAN is the Ship-wide
Area Network. In every other ship that we have in operation, you use that for all of your IT
[Information Technology] kinds of things. It is a little bit more for us. I can't actually operate
my engines unless my SWAN is working correctly. I can't do most anything without my SWAN
working correctly.
The first time we did it there were a lot of problems involved with that system. They have
worked out a lot of those bugs. USS GREEN BAY which is LPD 20, my predecessor, will
leave Avondale in about two months. She has done her acceptance trials [and they] were nearly
flawless. I had the opportunity to ride her during it. The ship performed magnificently.
What we have seen is that 17 and 18 really got hammered by the hurricanes [Katrina and
Rita] and the effects there. 19 was a little bit better. 20 is quite a bit better and 21 is moving
even the next step past 20. Part of it was the shipyard learning how to build this ship. Part of it
was the technology that was put in and the way some of the things were put together in that
process. The whole organization, the program office, the ship builder have learned quite a bit
and have really made quite a bit of progress.
[On 1 March 2008, Mrs. Dotty England named the ship]. It was a great day, we had a great
celebration.
Prior to delivery we will do what they call builder's trials and acceptance trials. Right
now, those are scheduled for the April and May timeframe of next year. Delivery is the day the
ship builder turns it over to the Navy and I sign the same form that we sign for pencils and paper
to sign for a $1.3 billion ship.
We are hoping to do the commissioning here next fall.
Information about the commissioning can be found at www.ussny.org.
SHAPING USS NEW YORK
COMMANDER CURT JONES, PROSPECTIVE
COMMANDING OFFICER OF USS NEW YORK
(LPD 21) DISCUSSES HIS SHIP.
Edited by Richard H. Wagner
(Originally published by the Navy League of the United States,
New York Council in The Log, Summer 2008).
COMMANDER CURT JONES, PROSPECTIVE
COMMANDING OFFICER OF USS NEW YORK
(LPD 21) DISCUSSES HIS SHIP.
Edited by Richard H. Wagner
(Originally published by the Navy League of the United States,
New York Council in The Log, Summer 2008).
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