Salutations: Soldiers fire cannons at Fort Hamilton to greet ships arriving for Fleet Week.
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto
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Brooklynites gathered along the waterfront to welcome more than a dozen vessels rolling underneath the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge and into New York Harbor for the first day of Fleet Week on May 25.
Gunners at Fort Hamilton greeted the caravan of ships with an 11-gun salute, although the ships did not return the greeting this year, unlike in years past. A spokesman at the base said it was unclear why they did not return the salute, and speculated it could be because the lead ship — the amphibious assault craft USS Bataan — does not have the guns available for a salute.
Besides the Bataan, which resembles a small aircraft carrier, two American destroyers, three Canadian Navy ships, patrol boats, a landing ship, a Coast Guard buoy tender and cutter, and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit came to town for Fleet Week. Two United States Navy destroyers and the Coast Guard Cutter spent the week docked at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook.
Cruisin’: The USS Bainbridge will moor at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal for Fleet Week.
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto
Not just ships: A Navy surveillance plane flies by Fort Hamilton for the start of Fleet Week in the city.
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto
Forward, ho: The United States Coast Guard’s cutter Forward will spend Fleet Week at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal in Red Hook.
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto
A warm greeting: Revelers gathered at the Fort Hamilton bluff to watch ships arriving for Fleet Week, and the base let off its traditional 11-gun salute.
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto
Big fella: The amphibious assault ship USS Bataan is the largest ship spending Fleet Week in New York.
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto
