Warships from the 'Land Down Under' in New York City

On Sunday, July 19, 2009, the HMAS Sydney and HMAS Ballarat sailed up the Hudson River to Pier 88 in New York. In port next to the two Australian ships was the USS Mahan DDG 72, all three were open to the public on the 21st.

First a short video and lots of pictures follow....



The view from Pier 86 (The Intrepid)



All three ships are in this shot USS Mahan, HMAS Sydney and the HMAS Ballarat (155)



The Australian ships and more than 400 sailors were visiting Manhattan as part of of a six month international deployment. "In May off the coast of Yemen, the Sydney and the Ballarat responded to a distress call from a merchant ship under attack from Somali pirates who fled after the Australian frigates and a helicopter from the Sydney appeared."

This was the sign where we had to go through bag check.



http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Ballarat




(HMAS Ballarat is the second Royal Australian Navy ship to bear the name and is the eighth ANZAC Class Guided Missile Frigate to be built by Tenix Defence Systems in Williamstown , Australia. Ballarat is a long-range frigate capable of air defence, surface and undersea warfare, surveillance, reconnaissance and interdiction)










http://www.navy.gov.au/HMAS_Sydney



HMAS Sydney is one of the six guided missile frigates in service with the Royal Australian Navy. She has recently been extensively upgraded.









The HMAS Sydney is a long-range escort with the ability to provide area air defence, anti-submarine and anti-shipping warfare, surveillance, reconnaissance and interdiction. She can counter simultaneous threats from the air, sea surface and under water. The Sydney has deployed to the Middle East four times. On the first occasion she took part in Operation Desert Storm, the action against Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War, for which she earned a Meritorious Unit Citation

USS Mahan DDG 72



http://www.mahan.navy.mil/default.aspx
http://navysite.de/dd/ddg72.htm

USS MAHAN DDG 72





USS Mahan (DDG-72) is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer in the United States Navy, and the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. She is the twelfth ship in that class built by Bath Iron Works in Maine and is home-ported in Norfolk, Virginia and part of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. Like her predecessors, she is named after Alfred Thayer Mahan, the famous theorist on seapower.

On 16 February 2007, Mahan was awarded the 2006 Battle "E" award.[1]





For a few hours on Tuesday, July 21, the public was permitted to board all three of these ships.



The ships were in berth in New York from July 19-22 to reciprocate the 2008 Great White Fleet centennial celebrations, when the USS Shoup and the USS John S McCain visited Australian shores.



As we left it was really nice to see this welcoming sign....




And many more pictures here. Just click thumbnail:

by redsquirrel08

Here is some more info from other reports:

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news/manhattan/090719_Australian_Warships_Dock_in_NY_to_Mark_Alliance
More from MYFOXNY.COM -
Australian Warships Dock in NY to Mark Alliance
Published : Sunday, 19 Jul 2009, 9:06 PM EDT

Warships from the 'Land Down Under' arrived in New York City on Sunday.

Two Australian ships arrived at Pier 88 to commemorate the relationship between the U.S. and Australia.

Both countries have served side-by-side in every major war for the last century.

The HMAS Sydney and HMAS Ballarat will be open to the public on Tuesday (July 21).

The ships are scheduled to set sail on Wednesday.

(AP) ---- The United States and Australia are celebrating a friendship at sea that has lasted more than 100 years.

On Sunday, two Australian warships arrived in New York to commemorate the relationship between the two nations — naval allies in every major conflict since World War I.

The HMAS Sydney and HMAS Ballarat docked at Pier 88 on Manhattan's West Side'''...(snip)

The seamen were among 400 men and women on board the warships that sailed into New York Harbor from Halifax, Nova Scotia, berthing on the Hudson River opposite the USS Intrepid, a decommissioned aircraft carrier.

The Australian frigates will be open to the public for tours on Tuesday before leaving Thursday for Baltimore and Norfolk, then Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a six-month, round-the-world deployment involving diplomatic visits and joint exercises with foreign navies.

In May off the coast of Yemen, the Sydney and the Ballarat responded to a distress call from a merchant ship under attack from Somali pirates who fled after the Australian frigates and a helicopter from the Sydney appeared.

The idea for the ships' U.S. visit came from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who said it is symbolic of the two nations' future challenges as allies.

The partnership started in 1907, when Australian Prime Minister Alfred Deakin invited U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt to send the American so-called Great White Fleet of 16 ships to his country. Australia was then trying to establish its navy as a significant force independent of the British Empire.

"The Americans went behind the backs of the British to send the fleet to Australia," Tom Harley, Deakin's great-grandson, told a news conference Sunday aboard the HMAS Ballarat. "The British were not amused, they were not pleased."

Harley was joined by both ships' commanding officers, as well as the Australian Fleet Commander, Rear Admiral Nigel Coates, and Roosevelt's great-grandson, Theodore Roosevelt IV.

Last year, exactly 100 years after the 16 American battleships reached Australian shores, the USS John S McCain and the USS Shoup sailed to Australia.

VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer contributed to this report.