New York (LPD 21) as the ship transits the Mississippi River.

[NCMEDIC]

Members of the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans honor guard render honors to the amphibious transport dock ship Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) New York (LPD 21) as the ship transits the Mississippi River.

http://www.news.navy.mil/management/photodb/webphoto/web_091013-N-9712C-014.jpg

[MacSteve]

man thats cool. If I'm not mistaken (Pistol help me out here), If your on the original crew don't you get some sort of cool plaque and a plank?

[Ashley L]

im glad this was posted. i was hoping it would get around sense i put up a thread about it

[Retired Navy Chief]

[QUOTE=MacSteve;12514]man thats cool. If I'm not mistaken (Pistol help me out here), If your on the original crew don't you get some sort of cool plaque and a plank?[/QUOTE

Well, yes and no.

Yes, being on the commissioning crew makes you what is known as a "Plank Owner" and you usually get some kind of a cool plaque or ball cap or something like that.

You don't actually get a piece of plank like you did back in the old days ... when they actually had wood decks (battleships were the of the last ones to have them).

Cheers,
PISTOL

[MacSteve]

ah I was just making sure. I knew you didn't get a "real plank" from the ship like way back when. The master chief I worked for in A school had like 5 of these and was a big story teller if you caught him in the right mood.

[Jisty06]

I was there ;)

[Retired Navy Chief]

I read today where the ship did a full power run and topped 45 knots (over 50 mph) .... That's flat out bookin' it for an amphibious type ship !!!

I'd love to be a crew-member on that class boat. Looks like a hell of a ship.

Cheers,
PISTOL

[MacSteve]

man.. thats seroiusly moving. I wonder how much the ship was shaking and vibrating? lol

[BoatsBM1]

I read today where the ship did a full power run and topped 45 knots (over 50 mph) .... That's flat out bookin' it for an amphibious type ship !!!

I'd love to be a crew-member on that class boat. Looks like a hell of a ship.

Cheers,
PISTOL
Where did you read such a statement as it relates to the New York, or for that matter any LPD?

The Navy officially rates the New York at 22 knots.

The latest news item related to speeds of that nature are about the LCS's, which are designed for and expected to reach such speeds.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
LCS Tops 50 MPH in Tests

October 22, 2009
Associated Press

BATH, Maine - The Navy's need for speed is being answered by a pair of warships that have reached freeway speeds during testing at sea.

Independence, a 418-foot warship built in Alabama, boasts a top speed in excess of 45 knots, or about 52 mph, and sustained 44 knots for four hours during builder trials that wrapped up this month off the Gulf Coast. The 378-foot Freedom, a ship built in Wisconsin by a competing defense contractor, has put up similar numbers.

Both versions of the Littoral Combat Ship use powerful diesel engines, as well as gas turbines for extra speed. They use steerable waterjets instead of propellers and rudders and have shallower drafts than conventional warships, letting them zoom close to shore.

The ships, better able to chase down pirates, have been fast-tracked because the Navy wants vessels that can operate in coastal, or littoral, waters. Freedom is due to be deployed next year, two years ahead of schedule.

Independence is an aluminum, tri-hulled warship built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. The lead contractor is Maine's Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics.

Lockheed Martin Corp. is leading the team that built Freedom in Marinette, Wis. It looks more like a conventional warship, with a single hull made of steel.

The stakes are high for both teams. The Navy plans to select Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics, but not both, as the builder. The Navy has ordered one more ship from each of the teams before it chooses the final design. Eventually, the Navy wants to build up to 55 of them.

Speed has long been relished by Navy skippers. Capt. John Paul Jones, sometimes described as father of the U.S. Navy, summed it up this way in 1778: "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."

Eric Wertheim, author and editor of the U.S. Naval Institute's "Guide to Combat Fleets of the World," said speed is a good thing, but it comes at a cost.

"This is really something revolutionary," Wertheim said. "The question is how important and how expensive is this burst of speed?"

Early cost estimates for Littoral Combat Ships were about $220 million apiece, but costs spiraled because of the Navy's requirements and its desire to expedite construction. The cost of the ships is capped at $460 million apiece, starting in the new fiscal year.

Both ships are built to accommodate helicopters and mission "modules" for either anti-submarine missions, mine removal or traditional surface warfare. The modules are designed to be swapped out within 24 hours, allowing the ships to adapt quickly to new missions.

While they're fast, they aren't necessarily the fastest military ships afloat. The Navy used to have missile-equipped hydrofoils and the Marines' air-cushioned landing craft is capable of similar speeds, Wertheim said. And smaller ships are capable of higher speeds.

Nonetheless, the speed is impressive, especially considering that other large naval vessels have been cruising along at a relatively pokey 30 to 35 knots for decades.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, noted that Independence sustained 44 knots despite a 30-knot headwind and 6- to 8-foot seas in Alabama's Mobile Bay. "For a ship of this size, it's simply unheard of to sustain that rate of speed for four hours," he said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From NavyTimes;
http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/10/navy_lcs2_trialsdone_102109w/

After delays, LCS 2 completes builder trials

By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Oct 21, 2009 16:34:26 EDT

The Navy’s second littoral combat ship, the Independence, finished its builder’s trials Wednesday, more than three months after first sailing from its Mobile, Ala., shipyard for its tests at sea.

The aluminum trimaran hit a top speed of 45 knots and kept a sustained speed of 44 knots during its full power run in the Gulf of Mexico, shipbuilder General Dynamics said in an announcement. It kept a high speed and stability despite eight-foot waves and 25-knot winds.

“Independence exceeded our expectations in terms of maneuverability, stability, handling and speed,” said Jeff Geiger, president of the GD-owned Bath Iron Works, in the company’s announcement.

Now that the Independence has finished its builder’s trials, Navy inspectors will come aboard later this year for acceptance trials before the ship is finally delivered. Rear Adm. Bill Landay, the Navy’s program executive officer for ships, has said the latest schedule calls for the Independence to be delivered before the end of 2009 and be commissioned sometime early next year.

Landay told Navy Times on Oct. 6 that engineers had to stop and start Independence’s builder’s trials since July to address early problems with the ship and to finish construction in some areas. The ship’s jet drive room flooded, and it had vibration and temperature problems with its propulsion systems, Landay said.

The Independence is the second of two ships the Navy is considering for its planned fleet of 55 littoral combat ships, along with the Lockheed Martin-built Freedom, commissioned last November. The ships were built to swap inter-changeable equipment for three missions: mine countermeasures, surface warfare and anti-submarine warfare. Navy officials will decide next spring which version of LCS they will put into full-scale production.

That decision will take place during or after the Freedom’s trial deployment, scheduled for early 2010, in which the ship will take a test mission to South America and the Pacific with its surface warfare mission module. But the down-select will take place before the Independence can do its own trial deployment, although Navy officials say they don’t need to see its performance on a test mission to decide which LCS they’ll buy.

Each LCS was initially pitched to Congress for a cost of about $220 million, but according to the Navy’s latest budget figures, the Freedom has cost $637 million and the Independence has cost $704 million. The Navy has awarded contracts for a second Freedom-class ship — the Fort Worth — and a second Independence — the Coronado — but has not disclosed the value of the contracts.

Navy officials claim the ongoing competition between GD and Lockheed mean they can’t release the ships’ costs, although Landay said he hopes the Navy will reveal those costs soon.

http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/webphoto/web_090712-N-0000G-004.jpg
The littoral combat ship Independence (LCS 2) underway during builder's trials. Builder's trials are the first opportunity for the shipbuilder and the U.S. Navy to operate the ship underway, and provide an opportunity to test and correct issues before acceptance trials.

BoatsBM1

[MacSteve]

man I'd love to be stationed on an LCS! Great post BM1, I learned quite a bit!

[Retired Navy Chief]

That's what I was reading .... an LCS ... not an amphib. Belay my last.

See ?? that's what happens when you retire, Boats .... you quit paying attention to detail !!

Good catch !!

But you gotta admit, the LCS platform is definately a cool boat ... not as pretty as a battleship ... but cool all the same.

Cheers,
PISTOL

[BoatsBM1]

That's what I was reading .... an LCS ... not an amphib. Belay my last.

See ?? that's what happens when you retire, Boats .... you quit paying attention to detail !!

BTDT!!

Good catch !!

But you gotta admit, the LCS platform is definately a cool boat ... not as pretty as a battleship ... but cool all the same.

Cheers,
PISTOL

The "bubbleheads" might not like someone calling a 'target' a "boat", instead of a ship.:biggrin:

BoatsBM1

[nickhallnavy]

I read today where the ship did a full power run and topped 45 knots (over 50 mph) .... That's flat out bookin' it for an amphibious type ship !!!

I'd love to be a crew-member on that class boat. Looks like a hell of a ship.

Cheers,
PISTOL

carriers can unofficially go that fast. they are the fastest ships in the fleet!

[Retired Navy Chief]

The "bubbleheads" might not like someone calling a 'target' a "boat", instead of a ship.:biggrin:

BoatsBM1


I don't care what the bubbleheads like .... any sailor who willingly climbs inside a sewer pipe and sinks their "boat" on purpose can't be wrapped too tight to begin with. :p:biggrin:

Cheers,
PISTOL

[MacSteve]

yup.. I'm lost. I think I have an idea of what you old guys (:p) are talking about, but I'm unsure.

[BoatsBM1]

yup.. I'm lost. I think I have an idea of what you old guys (:p) are talking about, but I'm unsure. :confused:

Sailor Speak...!!! - Author: (Unknown) -

Me and Willy were lollygagging by the scuttlebutt after being aloft to boy butter up the antennas and were just perched on a bollard eyeballing a couple of bilge rats and flangeheads using crescent hammers to pack monkey shit around a fitting on a handybilly.

All of a sudden the ****smith started hard-assing one of the deck apes for lifting his pogey bait. The pecker-checker was a sewer pipe sailor and the deckape was a gator. Maybe being blackshoes on a bird farm surrounded by a gaggle of cans didn't set right with either of those gobs.

The deck ape ran through the nearest hatch and dogged it tight because he knew the penis machinist was going to lay below, catch him between decks and punch him in the snot locker. He'd probably wind up on the binnacle list but Doc would find a way to gundeck the paper or give it the deep six to keep himself above board.

We heard the skivvywaver announce over the ***** box that the breadburners had creamed foreskins on toast (SOS) ready on the mess decks so we cut and run to avoid the fustercluck when the twidgets and cannon cockers knew chow was on.

We were balls to the wall for the barn and everyone was preparing to hit the beach as soon as we doubled-up and threw over the brow. I had a ditty bag full of fufu juice that I was gonna spread on thick for the bar hogs with those sweet bosnias. Sure beats the hell out of brown bagging.

Might even hit the acey-duecy club and try to hook up with a westpac widow. They were always leaving snail trails on the dance floor on amateur night.
:biggrin:

BoatsBM1

[MacSteve]

okay that was actually not too hard to understand ;) the only thing that got me was the jobs of the sailors. I pretty much understood the whole story

[Retired Navy Chief]

Hahahaha .... good stuff !!



Cheers,
PISTOL

[Ashley L]

lol wow. yall dont be jankin on the bubble heads, it may take a crazy to want to do it but .... lol i cant say nothing cause my dad was one

[BoatsBM1]

http://www.navy.mil/ussny/index.htm

[nickhallnavy]

man thats cool. If I'm not mistaken (Pistol help me out here), If your on the original crew don't you get some sort of cool plaque and a plank?

i got a awesome plaque-type thing.



http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2923317&l=798c3f305e&id=755551386

[BoatsBM1]

60 some pictures of events leading up to and the actual commissioning of USS New York LPD-21.

http://www.navy.mil/view_gallery.asp?category_id=132&sort_type=0&sort_row=1

[DK3]

yup.. I'm lost. I think I have an idea of what you old guys (:p) are talking about, but I'm unsure.

We use to send the new guys down to the HT Locker to get an HT Punch. I fell for that one :bigemo54:

Another guy was sent up to the flight deck (destroyer) to get a bucket of Prop Wash from the aviaition guys so we could clean the deck with. :biggrin: