Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Welcome home

We have had three of our local ships return over the past couple of days - the first was the USS New York - this is the ship that carries part of the metal from the Twins Towers in its walls. It arrived home on Sunday after a 14 month deployment. (Mom says Mayport is flooded with lots of very handsome sailors at the moment - BLAH - the only thing I care about is all that extra traffic in the morning which slows down my Bark Rangers Patrols :) Here is some information about the ships.
 
Name: USS New York
Namesake: The state of New York
Awarded: 25 November 2003
Builder: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems
Laid down: 10 September 2004
Launched: 19 December 2007
Christened: 1 March 2008
Acquired: 21 August 2009
Commissioned: 7 November 2009
Homeport: Naval Station Mayport, Florida
Motto: "Strength forged through sacrifice. Never forget."
Capacity:           Embarked Landing Force: 699
(66 officers, 633 enlisted)
surge capacity to 800.
Complement: 28 officers, 332 enlisted

The second ship is the USS Iro Jima which arrived home on Monday after a 12 month deployment - this is one BIG ship! It is a helicopter transport ship as well as troops.

Name: USS Iwo Jima
Namesake: Battle of Iwo Jima
Ordered: 28 February 1995
Builder: Ingalls Shipbuilding
Laid down: 12 December 1997
Launched: 4 February 2000
Christened: 25 March 2000
Commissioned: 30 June 2001
Homeport: Naval Station Mayport, Florida
Motto: Uncommon Valor
Class and type: Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Displacement: 40,530 long tons (41,180 t) full load
Length: 844 ft (257 m)
Beam: 110 ft (34 m)
Draft: 30 ft (9.1 m)
Propulsion: Geared Steam Turbines
Speed: 22 knots (25 mph; 41 km/h)
Troops: 1,897 Marines
Complement: 73 Officers, 1009 Enlisted

The third ship to return home on Monday was the USS Fort McHenry which had been on deployment for the 8 months

Namesake: Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland
Ordered: 11 December 1985
Builder: Lockheed Shipbuilding
Laid down: 10 June 1983
Launched: 1 February 1986
Commissioned: 8 August 1987
Homeport: Naval Station Mayport, Florida
Motto: Domus Fortium - Home of the Brave
Length:              610 ft (190 m)
Beam:                84 ft (26 m)
Draft:                 21 ft (6.4 m)
Propulsion:        4 Colt Industries, 16-cylinder diesel engines, 2 shafts, 33,000 shp (25 MW)
Speed:                20+ knots (37+ km/h)                      
Troops:              Marine detachment: 402 + 102 surge
Complement:     22 officers, 391 enlisted

17 comments:

  1. The ships are beautiful and I'm so glad they are home safe and sound.

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  2. my momma jumped with joy as she read the parts with the sailors... is Popeye there too? It must be great to watch ships what enter the harbor... it's touching somehow and really like "rolling home" :o)
    easy rider

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  3. Beautiful ships! Aren't you lucky to see them!

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  4. Handsome sailors lol. Bark at them!

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  5. Hari OM
    OMD OMD do you know how excited aunty gets when she sees shippies?? thanks for letting mum put this post up Reilly dog!!! Hugs and wags, YAM-aunty xxx

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  6. WOW! They are so HUGE! My dad's dad (my grandpa) was in the Navy. Mom says handsome men are there - rolls piggy eyes. She has a one track mind. Snorts. XOXO - Bacon

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  7. Those ships are beautiful. Mommies friend just came back on the USS Vicksburg whose home port is also Mayport :)

    xoxo, Ginger, Matt & Matilda

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  8. Welcome home ships and crew!
    hugs
    Mr Bailey, Hazel & Mabel

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  9. Glad everyone is home (for now)! Handsome soldiers everywhere....sounds nice!

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  10. Just all KINDS of awesome!!! Welcome home, everyone!!!
    Cammie!

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  11. Wow! We would have liked to have seen those big ships! Thanks for the pictures!

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  12. Welcome home to three very special and important ships!!! Thanks so much for sharing this!!!!
    Smileys!
    Dory, Jakey, Arty & Bilbo

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  13. Those are some impressive and important ships. Thanks for sharing the information about them.

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  14. Oh wow, very cool! Of course we love the NY ship best!!

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  15. How cool is that!!! Welcome home - did you get to see the big ships?

    Woos - Ciara and Lightning

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  16. Wow - those are huge ships and so magnificent! Welcome home!

    Love ya lots♥
    Mitch and Molly

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Thank you for woofing at us - we read each and every one of them