thedrifter
01-14-09, 07:07 AM
Ship will come to life in Long Beach
To honor Navy history, city was chosen for commissioning ceremony.
By John Canalis, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
Posted:01/13/2009 09:25:33 PM PST
LONG BEACH -- Crews in San Diego are putting the final touches on a Navy transport ship, the Green Bay, in anticipation of a Jan. 24 commissioning ceremony in the Long Beach harbor, a Navy spokesman said Tuesday.
The last strokes of paint being applied this week will be standard-issue gray, not the Packers' dark green and gold, but there will be football memorabilia aboard, including logos, replicas of Super Bowl trophies and a life-size cutout of former quarterback Brett Favre (now of the New York Jets).
"Every ship has its own personality, and this ship's personality is going to have one that represents the true-to-life, hardworking people of Green Bay," said David Hostetler, a civilian Navy spokesman stationed in San Diego.
The workhorse symbolism appears to fit the ship's assignment. The Green Bay was built to deploy Marines by air and sea for combat and humanitarian missions. She is the fourth so-called Landing Platform Dock, or LPD, vessel built by Northrop-Grumman near New Orleans.
The commissioning event will feature a speech and customary procedure that will give the Green Bay a USS prefix. Only after the ceremony will it be proper to call the vessel the USS Green Bay.
"One of the most spectacular parts of the ceremony is when the commanding officer says we are going to bring the ship to life and the entire crew will run up the ramp and bring it to life," said Maria-Isabel Soto, president of the Navy League Long Beach Council and chairwoman of the USS Green Bay Commissioning Committee.
Bringing a ship to life is a military term for officially placing a ship under military command.
Soto said the Long Beach League won the commissioning ceremony in December 2007, when it was contacted by representatives for a former Navy secretary who thought it would be nice to honor the city's historical relationship with the Navy "for old times' sake."
Interest in the commissioning ceremony is high, Soto said, adding that Long Beach in many ways remains "a Navy town." Naval Station Long Beach closed in 1994.
"There's so many people here I did not know were in the Navy, served in the Navy, have children in the Navy, or want to support the Navy because they are Navy fans," Soto said.
A tour of the Green Bay will follow the ceremony.
In San Diego, which will serve as the Green Bay's home port, the crew are checking systems, touching up flaws and readying the vessel for the upcoming voyage.
"These are final preparations to make sure everything is right before the commissioning ceremony, before coming up to Long Beach," Hostetler said.
Capable of cruising at 22 knots, the Green Bay is 684 feet long. The ship can carry a regular crew of 360 -- 28 officers, 332 enlisted personnel and three Marines -- but is capable of transporting an additional 699 troops for a surge total of 800.
The keel was laid in 2003. The ship was christened in July 2006. Sea trials were completed in August 2008.
"Our team produced and delivered to the Navy the most complete and thoroughly tested ship of the LPD 17 class," Bob Merchent, vice president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, said in a press release.
The Christmas Day announcement that the ship would be commissioned here was greeted with enthusiasm by veterans and former shipbuilders. The Green Bay will be the first USN ship commissioned in Long Beach since the destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur in 1994.
This is the second USN vessel named Green Bay; the first, a patrol gunboat, served in the 1970s.
Tickets to the commissioning ceremony in the Port of Long Beach are required and available for free. Information on the time and procedure to obtain tickets will be placed on a recorded message early Thursday morning -- but not before -- at 310-326-7434. That number will give callers another number to call for reservations, parking procedures and other details.
john.canalis@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1273
Ellie
To honor Navy history, city was chosen for commissioning ceremony.
By John Canalis, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
Posted:01/13/2009 09:25:33 PM PST
LONG BEACH -- Crews in San Diego are putting the final touches on a Navy transport ship, the Green Bay, in anticipation of a Jan. 24 commissioning ceremony in the Long Beach harbor, a Navy spokesman said Tuesday.
The last strokes of paint being applied this week will be standard-issue gray, not the Packers' dark green and gold, but there will be football memorabilia aboard, including logos, replicas of Super Bowl trophies and a life-size cutout of former quarterback Brett Favre (now of the New York Jets).
"Every ship has its own personality, and this ship's personality is going to have one that represents the true-to-life, hardworking people of Green Bay," said David Hostetler, a civilian Navy spokesman stationed in San Diego.
The workhorse symbolism appears to fit the ship's assignment. The Green Bay was built to deploy Marines by air and sea for combat and humanitarian missions. She is the fourth so-called Landing Platform Dock, or LPD, vessel built by Northrop-Grumman near New Orleans.
The commissioning event will feature a speech and customary procedure that will give the Green Bay a USS prefix. Only after the ceremony will it be proper to call the vessel the USS Green Bay.
"One of the most spectacular parts of the ceremony is when the commanding officer says we are going to bring the ship to life and the entire crew will run up the ramp and bring it to life," said Maria-Isabel Soto, president of the Navy League Long Beach Council and chairwoman of the USS Green Bay Commissioning Committee.
Bringing a ship to life is a military term for officially placing a ship under military command.
Soto said the Long Beach League won the commissioning ceremony in December 2007, when it was contacted by representatives for a former Navy secretary who thought it would be nice to honor the city's historical relationship with the Navy "for old times' sake."
Interest in the commissioning ceremony is high, Soto said, adding that Long Beach in many ways remains "a Navy town." Naval Station Long Beach closed in 1994.
"There's so many people here I did not know were in the Navy, served in the Navy, have children in the Navy, or want to support the Navy because they are Navy fans," Soto said.
A tour of the Green Bay will follow the ceremony.
In San Diego, which will serve as the Green Bay's home port, the crew are checking systems, touching up flaws and readying the vessel for the upcoming voyage.
"These are final preparations to make sure everything is right before the commissioning ceremony, before coming up to Long Beach," Hostetler said.
Capable of cruising at 22 knots, the Green Bay is 684 feet long. The ship can carry a regular crew of 360 -- 28 officers, 332 enlisted personnel and three Marines -- but is capable of transporting an additional 699 troops for a surge total of 800.
The keel was laid in 2003. The ship was christened in July 2006. Sea trials were completed in August 2008.
"Our team produced and delivered to the Navy the most complete and thoroughly tested ship of the LPD 17 class," Bob Merchent, vice president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, said in a press release.
The Christmas Day announcement that the ship would be commissioned here was greeted with enthusiasm by veterans and former shipbuilders. The Green Bay will be the first USN ship commissioned in Long Beach since the destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur in 1994.
This is the second USN vessel named Green Bay; the first, a patrol gunboat, served in the 1970s.
Tickets to the commissioning ceremony in the Port of Long Beach are required and available for free. Information on the time and procedure to obtain tickets will be placed on a recorded message early Thursday morning -- but not before -- at 310-326-7434. That number will give callers another number to call for reservations, parking procedures and other details.
john.canalis@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1273
Ellie