The ship was christened in 2008 at its shipyard in New Orleans and made its maiden journey to New York City for its official commissioning in 2009. Many of the crew on the maiden voyage were New Yorkers themselves, several of whom had personal connections to 9/11 and decided to serve in the US military as a result. To prepare for their early-morning entry into New York harbour, the crew were woken earlier than usual, with Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” playing over the ship’s loudspeakers at 4:00 a.m. Shortly thereafter, a harbour pilot who lost his brother in the attacks helped guide the ship up the Hudson River, stopping adjacent to the World Trade Center site, where the crew saluted and hundreds of New Yorkers looked on.
Since being commissioned into the US Navy fleet, the USS New York has participated in missions around the world, supporting counter-terrorism efforts and disaster relief. It is currently stationed at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, close to Allied Command Transformation, one of NATO’s two strategic commands. The USS New York has two sister ships, the USS Arlington and the USS Somerset, named after the locations where two other planes struck during the 9/11 attacks (the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and the Flight 93 crash site in Somerset County, Pennsylvania respectively).