New York is the fifth unit of the class. How has she gone together down at Avondale, and how have those sea trials that you just talked about gone?

Well, she’s gone together very well. The folks at Avondale now have a couple of these [LPD 17-class ships] under their belt, especially as we have begun the process of integration and really been able to bring some of the lessons from all our shipbuilding enterprise components to bear on this product. We’ve been able to head off some issues before they became major issues at the end of construction. What that led to was a sea trial here last month [July] that was remarkable in every regard. The fit and finish of the ship was very good, as was the functionality of the ship. The Navy appears to be very happy with the product that we have at this point, and we’re working our way through to get to delivery this year.

You’re confident that you’re going to deliver on time and ready to go up to New York in November 2009 and have a beautiful day on the East River?

Yes, I am. The thing about shipbuilding is that tomorrow is a new day, but we’re working our way through how we get to the point where the ship’s delivered, she goes to New York, has this tremendous event, and then is ready to join the fleet. I think the Navy and the shipbuilders are all committed to that track for USS New York.

You referenced earlier the special story of this ship and the connection it has to 9/11 and the World Trade Center. If you can, please explain to the people who are going to read about this what that means in terms of the construction, and what your workers did with the metal from the Fishkill disposal site. What was the reaction of your employees to working on a ship like this?

I think that any time you have the kind of national tragedy that we had in New York, and you give Americans the opportunity to participate in some way to memorialize that, to heal from that event, I think that they will rise to that occasion, and I don’t think this situation is any different. After all that had happened in New York on 9/11, the shipbuilders in New Orleans were going to be honored by having the chance to build this ship with that steel. That would have been special in itself.

But then you compound this with the Hurricane Katrina story, and what Katrina did to the Gulf Coast and our Avondale shipyard, particularly the flooding in New Orleans and the shipbuilders who were displaced from their homes by that storm. Then they see New York City firefighters and rescue teams there on the site helping them. That creates a special level of bonding between those two cities. The New Orleans fire departments and rescue teams were in New York in September 2001, and the New York fire departments and rescue teams and policemen were in New Orleans in 2005. For the shipbuilders to have a chance to participate in that American history is an incredibly moving and emotional event for them.

How much recovered steel from Fishkill went into the bow of USS New York?

It was about seven and a half tons.

Have there been additional interactions between the people and government of New York as well?

There have been a number. There have been many interactions, and I believe Mayor Bloomberg has visited Avondale during construction. New York City is very interested in the progress on the ship and I am sure that won’t end at the commissioning, but will only just begin. I’m sure that the spirit of the citizens of New York will be on that ship every day of her service life.

After New York, how many more LPD 17s is Northrop Grumman contracted to build?

Four currently. There is already long-lead funding for the fifth and the sixth units. We’re moving to negotiate the contract for the fifth one presently, and look forward to building more ships based upon the LPD 17 hull.

Right now we have two planned in each yard. We certainly will continue to review how’s the best way to produce them and where they should be produced and all of that, but right now we’ve got two to go in each [yard].