USS NEW YORK (LPD 21)

USS New York (LPD 21)
Fact Sheet

Mission: USS NEW YORK (LPD-21) was constructed at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems’ shipyard in Avondale, LA. It is the fifth amphibious transport dock of the San Antonio class. The ship is used to transport and land Marines, their equipment, and supplies via embarked air cushion or conventional landing craft, amphibious assault vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical take off and landing aircraft. USS NEW YORK stands ready to support amphibious assaults, special operations, expeditionary warfare missions, and humanitarian relief efforts.

Name: The ship was named New York after the state and incorporates in its construction steel salvaged from the World Trade Centers. "We're very proud that the twisted steel from the WTC towers will soon be used to forge an even stronger national defense," New York Gov. George Pataki spoke in 2002. "The USS New York will soon be defending freedom and combating terrorism around the globe, while also ensuring that the world never forgets the evil attacks of Sept. 11 and the courage and strength New Yorkers showed.” This will be the seventh U.S. ship named New York.

Special features of USS NEW YORK (LP 21):

•Bow stem includes seven and a half tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center's twin towers

•Construction with World Trade Center steel was encouraged by Governor George Pataki of New York and Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City

•Name given by then Secretary of the Navy Gordon England

•Keel was laid on August 2004

•1,200 Louisiana workers stayed to keep building the ship after Hurricane Katrina hit the shipyard in August 2005

•Ship was christened at Northrop Grumman's Avondale shipyard on March 1, 2008

•Motto: "Strength forged through sacrifice. Never forget."


Ship Characteristics:

Length: 684 feet (208.5 meters)

Beam: 105 feet (31.9 meters)

Displacement: Approximately 24,900 tons full load

Speed: In excess of 22 knots (24.2 mph)

Aircraft: Four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters or two MV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft may be launched or recovered simultaneously. The ship’s hangar can store 1-2 aircraft.

Armament: Two 30 mm Close-in-guns, for surface threat defense; two Rolling Airframe Missile launchers for air defense Landing Craft: Two LCACs (air cushion) or one LCU (conventional)

Power plant: Four Colt-Pielstick diesel engines, two shafts, 40,000 Hp

Crew: ~440 Sailors (45 officers, 395 enlisted), 3 Marines
Troops 699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted); capacity to surge to 800 total.

Dates: New York’s keel was laid on 10 September 2004 and the ship was commissioned USS NEW YORK (LPD-21) in New York City on November 7, 2009. Mrs Dotty England, wife of Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, is the sponsor.


About the USS NEW YORK (LPD 21) Ship's Crest

•Seven rays of sunlight signify both the crown atop the Statue of Liberty and the seven seas

•Central focus placed on the Twin Towers and the bow of the ship, forged from the towers' steel

•Breastplate of the phoenix bears the colors of first responders from the New York Police Department, New York Fire Department, and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

•Blood drops represent the fallen

•Three stars for those earned by the battleship USS NEW YORK (BB34) in World War II at Iwo Jima, Okinawa and North Africa