A host of dignitaries, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead, Marine Corps Commandant James T. Conway, and former Navy and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, looked on, the Navy commissioned its newest surface vessel – and honored the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center at the same time. The amphibious transport dock New York, carrying a compliment of 350 sailors and capability of moving 800 Marines and their equipment into combat, joined the fleet during a Nov. 7 ceremony in New York harbor. The ship’s bow contains 7.5 tons of steel recovered from the wreckage of the World Trade Center site on the tip of Manhattan. New York was built at Northrop Grumman Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans, where she was christened last March 1. Her skipper, Cmdr. F. Curtis Jones, is a native of Binghamton, N.Y. New York will be homeported at Norfolk Naval Station, Va.
