Attention, vandals: Your Navy needs you
November 3rd, 2009 | Life at Sea Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
About 100,000 people were expected to visit the amphibious transport dock New York during its visit this week, leading up to its commissioning Saturday // Philip Ewing/Staff
ABOARD THE AMPHIBIOUS TRANSPORT DOCK NEW YORK — This ship’s arrival in New York this week is a solemn occasion and a time for reflection and all that, but Scoop Deck was glad to hear that other people were having cognitive trouble connecting New York, the squared-away, brand-new warship, to New York, the megalopolis.
Navy ships are powerful instruments of American influence, operated with discipline and expertise. But the name “New York” conjures up images of the faux-wood paneling in the F Line to Brooklyn; scenesters in tight jeans talking about bands you’ve never heard of; astronomical rents; men sleeping on grates on 8th Avenue; and the aroma of human excrement floating out of the sewer.
Chief Electronics Technician (SW/SCW/EXW) Mike Kerrigan agreed that some grittier elements were missing from the brand-new New York. There are a few touches: The crew’s mess is named the “Skyline Café.” The starboard-side main deck passageway is named “Broadway,” and before the ship leaves New York, it will almost certainly acquire a souvenir (or stolen) Broadway street sign from Manhattan.
But Kerrigan said he thought the ship could do still better. (And for the record, he voted for “Hell’s Kitchen” as the name for the crew’s mess.)
“I told the guys, I’m gonna go into the subway and find some of those kids with spray cans and bring ‘em back on board and have ‘em go to town,” Kerrigan laughed. “We’ve got a lot of white space on the walls in the upper V” — the upper vehicle bay.
The New York wouldn’t be complete without a tasteful, but authentic, wall of graffiti, Kerrigan said.
“It’s not commonplace for a Navy ship to do that, but we’re special anyway,” he said.
Comments
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eric deal Says:
November 10th, 2009 at 8:51 pmI know several graffiti artists that would love to paint an artistic tribute to the men and women in uniform.
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The Scoop Deck – A carrier with a British accent Says:
June 15th, 2010 at 9:31 am[...] Royal displaces about 22,000 tons — making it smaller than a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, to say nothing of a Wasp-class big-deck gator or one of our American [...]