Out & About
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Sometime in the fall of 2008, the USS New York, made in part with 24 tons of steel from the World Trade Center, will be resting on the shores of Manhattan in anticipation of its commissioning ceremony.
That’s when the ship will be put into active duty – or, in Navy parlance, brought to life – with thousands of spectators standing by. Among them will be the ship’s sponsor, Dotty England, the wife of a former secretary of the Navy, Gordon England, and the chairman of the commissioning committee, the chairman and chief executive of PepsiCo, Steve Reinemund.
Already dreaming about and planning for that day is the New York Council of the Naval League of the United States, which held its annual dinner Wednesday.
“Today we are kicking off a two-year campaign to make this commissioning ceremony the greatest in naval history,” a member of the commissioning committee, and a former president of the council, Robert Ravitz, said. “Citizens from throughout the states will join us. And we’ll also raise money for a foundation to support children of crew members,” he said.
A retired rear admiral, Mr. Ravitz addressed 450 guests in the ballroom of the Marriott Marquis, lit red, white, and blue, and filled with men and women in uniform. In the course of the evening, the U.S.O. Show Troupe performed and couples danced to the music of the Joe Battaglia Big Band.
Smack in the middle of Times Square, they were all a long way from where the USS New York is being assembled, at Northrop Grumman’s shipyards in the Gulf Coast.
The ship came into focus, though, with the help of the president of Northrop Grumman’s ship systems sector, Philip Teel.
“The USS New York is complex,” Mr. Teel said, noting that it contains 500 miles of electrical cable, 60 miles of pipe, and 140 miles of fiber optic cable. And what a paint job – 315 tons, to be exact.
Mr. Teel said that as the fifth ship in its class, the USS New York is being built more efficiently than its predecessors, even in the wake of the destruction wrought by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which left 40% of the ship-building crew without their homes. Many now live in temporary housing provided by Northrop Grumman.
The event also honored the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the editor of Sea Power magazine, Rick Barnard. The president of Medco Health Solutions, Kenneth Klepper, served as dinner chairman, handing out the awards with the president of the New York council, Dr. Daniel Thys, who is the chairman of anesthesiology at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital.
Theodore Roosevelt founded the Navy League in 1902 in New York City. A civilian organization that supports the sea services, it has more than 65,000 members in 275 councils around the world.
The New York Council provides support to sailors and marines from New York; helps plan Fleet Week; sponsors three Sea Cadet units and two Naval Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps units, and gives scholarships to students at the Naval War College. Membership is $40 a year for one person, or $70 a year for a husband and wife.
