"It's very difficult to discuss this event without crying. This one was very special."
Debbi McCallam, in charge of communications and events for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, mists up about her most recent ship christening event before even discussing its details. And with more than adequate reason; the celebration surrounding the newly built Navy vessel USS New York, which took place at the company's New Orleans shipyard in March of this year, entailed a daunting array of logistical challenges demanded of a special event of historic importance, involving thousands of participants.
From the very conception of the ship's construction, all the way through the naming celebration on March 1, the vessel was intended to forever link hurricane-ravaged New Orleans with terror-devastated New York.
That special relationshipbetween shipbuilding workers who endured Hurricane Katrina and survivors of New York's 9/11 tragedy; between the two cities' fire and police departments; between two communities still struggling to copehad been forged by a remarkable and enduring fact: Cast into the bow of the New York by those New Orleans shipbuilders is seven-and-a-half tons of steel recovered from Manhattan's fallen World Trade Center.
"There's symbolism all over this ship," notes McCallam. "The bow stem is the foremost part of the ship, the first that slices through the water, and thus the hardest and most steadfast piece of the ship. It's a fitting tribute to the memories of those who died on 9/11."
The challenge for McCallam and her colleague, meeting planner Teresa Chubb, was to maintain the solemn protocol of a traditional Navy christening event, while at the same time create something memorable that evoked these special purposes.
"Most of our shipbuilders who worked on this ship are Katrina survivors," says McCallam, adding that the shipyard also was damaged by the storm. "This ship was one of the reasons they came back to work. They're still rebuilding their homes and their lives, so bringing this ship to life ran parallel with their own efforts."
Two Cities Celebrate
Because of the complexity of the two-day event, Northrop Grumman hired two firms to handle the arrangements. Local DMC BBC Destination Management was tapped to arrange the elaborate Sponsors Dinner the night prior to the christening event as well as all transportation. For the christening-day celebrations, Northrop hired Baltimore-based P.W. Feats, which has extensive experience in just such events.
The Sponsors Dinner on opening night was a seated gala for 500 invited guests. The natural theme was, of course, "Big Easy to The Big Apple," but it was kept under careful wraps while guests mingled at a cocktail reception in New Orleans' Heritage Park, adjacent to the dinner site. There, entertainment was provided by the USO troupe Liberty Belles, combining fun with 1940s nostalgia and revolving around another war in another time.
After the performance, guests were led in true New Orleans style via a parade line to the nearby Sugar Mill, a 22,000-square-foot special-event venue across from the Morial Convention Center near the Mississippi River, in the city's historic Warehouse District. But "true New Orleans style" ended quickly, as everything turned New York in dramatic fashion. Guests' jaws dropped as they crossed over a red carpet beneath a 42-foot replica of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge and into the dining area beyond.
Attendees sat at assigned tables corresponding to New York City "neighborhoods," including the Financial District near the site of the 9/11 attacks, the Theater District in Midtown, and Central Park, smack in the middle of Manhattan. One fun element with superb practicality was the replica of a New York subway map provided to help guests find assigned tables.
The decor inside the Sugar Mill was as spectacular as the Brooklyn Bridge entryway. The dais featured a massive acrylic replica of the USS New York, set against a sparkling backdrop of the New York skyline, also crafted in acrylic. The venue was festooned with enormous photos of Manhattan that drew guests' gazes upwards into a night sky of soaring skyscrapers, just as they would in Manhattan itself.
Once seated, guests indulged in a three-course dinner, complete with Champagne toast. A touching feature of the evening was a special video created by Northrop Grumman employees, "Walking in The Wake of Heroes," about their actual visit to New York to meet with members of the September 11 Families' Association. The video included personal stories told of that day, as well as affirmations of a hopeful future embodied by the new Navy vessel bearing the city's name.
Also attending the event were New York and New Orleans police and fire fighters and September 11 Families' Association members, underscoring the connection between the two disaster-impacted communities. "Not much was said about Hurricane Katrina," remembers BBC owner Bonnie Boyd, "but both communities were dealing with huge disasters, and there were very few dry eyes in the room."
The Christening
The following day at 4 a.m., more than 70 BBC staffers gathered to make arrangements for the 5,000 people set to attend the actual christening at Northrop Grumman's shipyard in New Orleans. A massive transportation shuttle system was assembled, including more than 50 motor coaches, 12 handicap-accessible minis, sedans, SUVs, vans, and "every single cop we could find from the parish and the state," says Boyd, to ensure a seamless arrival and departure experience.
BBC used a ticket coding system to manage the shuttles to get the attendees to the event. Red tickets were for attendees of a VIP-hosted breakfast for 600. White and blue ticket holders, meanwhile, boarded the main shuttle system from the Alario Center, a New Orleans sports complex. Volunteer bus "ambassadors" staffing the vehicles conducted a tour of the build site, en route to the specially created ceremony platforms at river's edge.
All roads were cleared by police along the two-mile designated route, and checkpoints were manned by BBC staff. The remote command center was equipped with emergency services; BBC also arranged for portable comfort stations, merchandise sales, information stations, parking attendants, and directional signage.
The christening ceremony, beginning at 10 a.m., offered its own logistical and security challenges. For one, Northrop's New Orleans shipyard is one of its smallest; previous christenings typically attracted no more than one-third of the numbers expected for the New York event.
"Our team executed one of the most memorable events we have ever experienced," remembers Sandy Pagnotti, vice president of event management, with P.W. Feats. "We built 5,000-seat guest platforms and entertainment staging; solved logistic puzzles that led to a series of barges and temporary bridges to create red-carpeted walkways that enabled the VIPs to travel from the podium to the bow of the ship for the official christening "moment;" and masterminded the six-camera shoot for media feeds, and a live two-and-a-half-hour webcast.
"We did this in the middle of a working shipyard on the banks of the Mississippi River, with shipyard workers who were building this ship while simultaneously rebuilding their own homes that they lost during our nation's worst natural disaster," says Pagnotti.
Emotions were lifted by featured entertainment from (once more) the Liberty Belles, with the addition this time of young country singing and song-writing star Rebecca Lynn Howard, as well as famed veteran performer Charlie Daniels. Not to be outdone, the U.S. Navy Band also performed. But it was a special performance by the Emerald Society, a pipe and drum band made up of New York police and fire fighters, that stirred the audience with the traditional hymn "Amazing Grace."
The $1 billion, 684-foot-long New York is what is known as an amphibious transport dock ship, employed to land Marines using landing craft, helicopters, or vertical takeoff planes (the rear half of the ship resembles an aircraft carrier). The formal Navy christening ceremony included speeches from U.S congressmen from Louisiana and New York, corporate executives, and U.S. Navy admirals.
Speeches by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and his wife, ship sponsor Dotty England, led to the traditional cracking of the Champagne bottle across the New York's bow, and the confetti flew. The ship's bow insignia, gracing the molten and reformed steel from the fallen Twin Tower Two, was emblazoned with the motto, "Never Forget."
Pagnotti remembers that "magic happened" when FDNY fire fighter Frank Pizarro closed the program with the stirring song, "You Raise Me Up":
You raise me up so I can stand on mountains,
You raise me up to walk on stormy seas,
I am strong when I am on your shoulders,
You raise me up to more than I can be.
"Our tears joined those of proud veterans, Navy admirals, U.S. congressmen, corporate executives, and shipbuilders who witnessed a moment in history like no other," Pagnotti remembers, of the emotions during the song. "There was not a dry eye in the house."
McCallam sums up the event compellingly on behalf of Northrop Grumman: "It is rare that we have the opportunity, in our day-to-day jobs and lives, to make history," she notes. "In all the years our shipyards have been doing christenings, there has never been, and for years and ships to come there will never be, a christening like this."
Originally published Oct. 1, 2008
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