Navy announces ships for N.Y. Fleet Week
Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Apr 20, 2010 11:25:40 EDT
The Navy plans to send seven ships to New York’s annual Fleet Week next month, it announced Tuesday: a big-deck gator, a cruiser, a destroyer and four smaller patrol coastal ships. The Coast Guard plans to send three ships.
From Naval Station Norfolk, Va., the Navy will dispatch the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, destroyer James E. Williams and PCs Tempest, Hurricane, Monsoon and Squall, the announcement said. The cruiser Philippine Sea will sail from Naval Station Mayport, Fla.
The Coast Guard plans to send the buoy tenders Katherine Walker of New York, and Abbie Burgess of Cape May, N.J.; and the medium-endurance cutter Campbell, based in Portsmouth, N.H., according to Navy Region Mid-Atlantic.
Iwo Jima will dock in Manhattan during the fleet festival May 26 to June 2, and all the other ships will dock in the borough of Staten Island. The ships will be available for public tours and their crews — about 3,000 sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — will be feted at events throughout the city.
International warships also have visited New York during Fleet Week, although their arrangements this year have not yet been confirmed.