New York, meet New York
November 3rd, 2009 | Life at Sea Maritime operations Photos Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Crew members aboard the New York got a tour of the harbor Monday that tourists would dream of // Philip Ewing/ Staff
ABOARD THE AMPHIBIOUS TRANSPORT DOCK NEW YORK — Reveille was at 0400 Monday morning, and the 1MC crackled with a familiar brassy introduction and an unmistakable baritone:
“Start spreaadin’ the newwwwws! I’m leaavin’ todaaaaay!”
The sun had not yet risen over the clear morning in the anchorage off Brighton Beach where this ship had spent Sunday, but the atmosphere aboard the New York was already electric. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had distributed 100 “FDNYPD” ball caps in the crew’s mess the night before. The Yankees had won. The Navy ship with the supernatural link to its namesake was about to visit for the first time.
Still, as New York, the seaport, pulled out all the stops for its welcome to New York, the gator — including an escort of fire boats, tugs, pleasure craft and at least a dozen news and police helicopters — the ship’s bridge was serene. The New York was in line behind a cruise ship, the Crown Princess, in the channel leading under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and into the harbor.
As the immense bridge floated overhead, the New York’s captain, Cmdr. Curt Jones, was asked how it felt to cross the threshold.
“My first reaction is probably unprintable,” he said. “It’s fantastic. It really does feel like we’re coming home.”
The New York kept a speed of six knots or less and turned at waypoints plotted out the night before in the navigation brief in the wardroom. World-famous landmarks appeared in the bridge windows. The Statue of Liberty. Ellis Island. (“My great grandfather, Adolph Schmidt, came through Ellis Island,” said Cmdr. Erich Schmidt, the New York’s executive officer.) Marge Simpson’s beloved Governor’s Island. Briefly, we could look up the East River and see the Brooklyn Bridge. Battery Park.
Then the ship started up the Hudson. Three Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, in close formation, zoomed past on the port side.
New York firefighters, police and thousands of other people were arrayed along the marina west of the World Trade Center site. The boatswain’s mate of the watch blew a short blast on his whistle over the 1MC for attention to starboard. The sailors and Marines manning the ship’s rails saluted. On the flight deck, seven Marines fired three volleys from their M16s, although people on the bridge couldn’t hear the 21-gun salute. Two whistle blasts and the ship’s crew brought down their salutes. Three blasts and they stood at ease. The New York started back up the river.
“What a great moment,” Schmidt said.
The ship continued up the river until it passed Grant’s Tomb, then turned in place and started back south. Several New York Fire Dept. pumper trucks were arrayed on a bridge on the edge of Manhattan. As the New York passed, they sprayed a water salute and blasted their sirens. The ship responded with three blasts of its horn.
Why, Schmidt was asked, had the New York passed its pier and gone up the river, only to turn around again before tying up?
“So everybody can see us,” he said.
