20th Annual Fleet Week Welcomed Sailors And Marines

Mayor greets sailors and marines at Gracie Mansion at onset of Fleet Week on May 24th.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg welcomed members of the US Navy, US Marine Corps and US Coast Guard to New York City's 20th Annual Fleet Week Celebration in a ceremony at Gracie Mansion last Thursday.

Fleet Week this year ran though yesterday, May 30th. Over the last week, thousands of military service men and women came to New York, and this year, seven ships (USS Wasp, USS Stephen W. Groves, USS Oscar Austin, USS Hue City, USS Winston S. Churchill, USS San Jacinto and the US Coast Guard Cutter Katherine Walker) were docked at various piers around the city.

In addition to Fleet Week activities, the Mayor also kicked off the Second Annual Fleet Week Job, Education and Information Fair for military veterans and service members. The Mayor was joined today by Vice Admiral Evan M. Chanik Jr. of the US Navy, Chaplain Dale Parker of the US Navy and Clarice Joynes, Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Veterans' Affairs.

More than half a dozen vessels were berthed at city piers during Fleet Week.

"Hosting the 20th anniversary of Fleet Week is an opportunity for our city to show its longstanding support and gratitude to our service men and women throughout the world," said the mayor. "We want to ensure that when our service members come back home we welcome them - not just with words and medals - but with opportunities. We hope that our returning veterans will choose to follow their dreams right here in New York City."

The Job Fair gives veterans and service members an opportunity to receive information on jobs, benefits, and educational opportunities that are available through various programs offered by city agencies.

This year's Fleet Week was also the first in which the USS Intrepid, the World War II aircraft carrier turned military museum, was not present to serve as official host ship.

The carrier, a heroic Pacific war campaigner that survived multiple Japanese kamikaze and torpedo attacks, was towed from its Hudson River berth last December for an 18-month, stem-to-stern overhaul and is now up on blocks in drydock in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Several U.S. Navy ships docked at various piers around the city during Fleet Week, May 24-30. Thousands of members of the military came ashore to take advantage of the city's many attractions. Dara Mormile

Ed Reed/Office of the Mayor

Dara Mormile

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