Ship named in honor of 9/11 to be christened

[unhappycamper]

Lee Ielpi, left, a former New York firefighter whose son, also a firefighter, was killed on Sept. 11, talks with Navy Cmdr. F. Curtis Jones, prospective commanding officer of the New York, and Jennifer Adams in front of the New York at the Northrop Grumman shipyard in Avondale, La., on Feb. 29.


Ship named in honor of 9/11 to be christened
By Alan Sayre - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Feb 29, 2008 16:21:38 EST

AVONDALE, La. — Standing before the massive New York, Jennifer Adams seemed moved by the spirits of the 2,750 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Center.

“Our angels will watch over the men and women serving on this ship so the events of Sept. 11 will never happen again,” said Adams, who co-founded an association of family members and friends of 2,974 people who died when terrorist-hijacked airliners crashed into the twin towers in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, and of survivors, recovery workers and volunteers.

The New York, an amphibious assault ship built for the Navy and incorporating steel recovered from the collapsed World Trade Center, will be christened Saturday at the New Orleans-area shipyard where it endured Hurricane Katrina.

The vessel was built by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. It is the fifth in the LPD San Antonio class of ships designed to carry Marines into assault operations.

~snip~

The $1 billion, 25,000-ton vessel is 684 feet long and 105 feet wide. It can carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 Marines, who can be delivered to shore by helicopters and landing craft.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_newyorkship_022908/



uhc comment: Ouch. Meet the $802,000,000 (in 1999 dollars) San Antonio class ship:



http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/lpd-17.htm

The SAN ANTONIO (LPD 17) Class of amphibious transport dock ships represents the Navy and Marine Corps' future in amphibious warfare, and is one of the cornerstones in the strategic plan known as "Forward...from the sea". The San Antonio class will be the first designed, from the keel up, to execute Operational Maneuver From The Sea and Ship to Objective Maneuver. It is designed to support embarking, transporting, and landing elements of a Marine landing force in an assault by helicopters, landing craft, amphibious vehicles, and by a combination of these methods to conduct primary amphibious warfare missions.

The LPD 17 will integrate with the existing amphibious ship force structure and the Navy's declining shore infrastructure. The LPD 17 class program will be the replacement for three classes of amphibious ships that have reached the end of their service life -- the LPD 4, LSD 36, and LST 1179 classes - and one class that has already been retired, the LKA 113. Naval amphibious ship forces with embarked Marine Corps units provide an essential component of the forward presence mission capability required to implement United States foreign policy. The LPD 17 ship class primary mission is Amphibious Warfare. Thus, LPD 17 must be able to embark, transport, and land elements of the landing force in an assault by helicopters (all USMC helos as well as the MV-22 Vertical Take Off and Land aircraft, Osprey), landing craft including air cushion (LCAC) and conventional (LCU) landing craft, amphibious vehicles (AAV) and expeditionary fighting vehicles (EFV), and by a combination of these methods. The combat power of this ship is it's embarked Marines and their equipment.

Ensuring that the ship maintains a robust self defense capability as threat systems evolve is key to survivability in the littoral environment where the ship will fight. As a class, these ships will overcome amphibious lift shortfalls caused by the decommissioning of aging LPDs, LSTs, LKAs, and LSDs. Maintaining projected delivery schedules and attaining operational readiness of this ship class is key to eradicating existing shortfalls in amphibious lift. Of particular concern is the high average age of amphibious ships which have high maintenance costs, higher manning levels, and lower reliability compared to ships being built today. The introduction of the LPD 17 into the fleet is intended to mitigate this problem.

~snip~

As of October 1999 it was reported that the LPD-17 could cost as much $245 million above the original estimate, a 41 percent cost increase for the first ship in that class. And as of March 2000 Litton Industries was about 30 percent over budget and 10 months behind schedule in building the LPD-17, which was is estimated to cost $802 million -- $185 million more than its $617-million target cost.

[DainBramaged]

1. Over budget, why am I not surprised at the numbers???

Isn't there a cruiser that has the bow made of steel from the Trade Centers??