NEW YORK (AP) -- The annual U.S. Navy invasion known as Fleet Week opened here on Wednesday with a flotilla of five American warships and three Canadian entries to add an international flavor to the 21st annual observance.
1010 WINS BLOG: Aboard the USS Kearsarge
Some 3,000 sailors and Marines will disembark from the ships during the eight-day event that includes public tours and a variety of aerial and simulated combat technique demonstrations by Marine Corps units.
IMAGE GALLERY: Fleet Week Ships a Day Away (Day 2)
The World War II aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, a museum ship that traditionally serves as host for Fleet Week, is still undergoing a two-year overhaul at Staten Island, where it takes up one entire side of a pier normally used for Fleet Week, said Beth Baker, a Nary spokeswoman at Norfolk, Va.
IMAGE GALLERY: USS Kearsarge on its way to New York (Day 1)
Baker said three ships will be moored on the other side of the pier. The others will be tied up at Pier 88 on Manhattan's West Side.
1010 WINS AUDIO: Al Jones Reports
The opening procession will be led by the USS Kearsarge, a 40,500-ton amphibious assault ship that carries both helicopters and surface boats. Others are the guided missile cruisers USS Leyte Gulf and USS Monterey, and guided missile destroyers USS Nitze and USS The Sullivans.
Two Canadian frigates, HMCS Toronto and HMCS St. Johns, and an oiler, HMCS Preserver, and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Ida Lewis round out the lineup.
The Sullivans, named for five Iowa brothers who perished together aboard a cruiser in World War II, was the target of a January 2000 attack by al Qaeda terrorists in the harbor at Aden, Yemen, which failed when their explosives-laden boat sank.
Ten months later, on Oct. 12, 2000, the same group launched a successful attack against its sister ship, USS Cole, killing 17 crew members. Two Yemeni men were indicted by the Justice Department in 2003 for their part in the attack.
On the Net:
www.fleetweek.navy.mil
1010 WINS and 1010 WINS.com will have complete coverage of fleet Week with newsman Al Jones aboard the USS Kearsarge. |
