Local soldier serving on historic ship
Ian Graves’ dream job is to serve as a diver in the U.S. Navy’s special operations forces, but his current assignment aboard the USS New York is proving to be beyond the seaman’s wildest imagination. Graves, whose grandparents and late mother are from Fayette County, sailed into New York Harbor on Monday for Saturday’s celebrated commissioning of the USS New York, which contains 7.5 tons of steel from the former World Trade Center in New York City molded into her bow.
The USS New York, an amphibious transport dock ship designated as LPD 21, and its crew of 362 were wished bon voyage by thousands of people from shore when it departed the Northrop Grumman shipyard in Avondale, La., where it was built, on Sept. 15 and when it arrived in New York, said Graves.
“When we left Louisiana, there were thousands of people along the river cheering,” said Graves, who turns 21 in about two weeks. “Same thing in New York – thousands taking photos. There were thousands of people. It was amazing.”
His grandparents, Pat and Richard Kohrman of Point Marion, left for New York on Thursday to see him and watch the commissioning ceremony.
The 684-foot ship, which carries U.S. Marines into battle, was christened in Louisiana after construction was completed. The commissioning means the ship is ready for active duty.
Thousands are expected to attend the commissioning ceremony in the city where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were destroyed and thousands of people were killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The ship’s color guard will be on deck for the start of the ceremony, said Graves.
He and the rest of the crew will be inside waiting for their cue. When they hear the commander say “bring her to life,” the crew will run outside and stand at attention along the edges of the deck.
The commissioning sponsor, the New York Jets and Johnson & Johnson health-care products owner Robert “Woody” Johnson, is paying for the crew’s family’s airfare and hotel stay. Johnson also is chairman of the commissioning ceremony committee.
Graves lived in a motel in Louisiana for months while the ship was being built.
Northrop Grumman constructed most of the ship, but the crew installed the electronics and hi-tech systems, he said.
The crew then sailed the ship to its home base in Norfolk, Va., and painted it.
“That was very fun. We applied the actual final coat,” Graves said.
The paint job, which gets scratched up every time the 25,000-pound anchor and its 49,000-pound chair are deployed, was touched up after the ship arrived in New York.
After the commissioning, the ship will return to Norfolk before heading out to sea for a month-long test run. Then, following a Christmas break, the ship and crew will return to sea, he said.
So far, the ship is working fine. “She’s a beast,” Graves said.
The vessel can carry a crew up to 500 seamen and up to 900 Marines and their tanks, weapons and other equipment.
“Our main purpose is transporting Marines all around the world,” Graves said. “She’s big ship.”
In January, when he was assigned to the USS New York, he said he didn’t realize steel from the World Trade Center had been melted down and used in the construction.
“I was astonished. Seven and half tons of World Trade Center steel was put in the bow of the ship,” Graves said. “My buddies were jealous I got picked. A couple guys wanted to trade orders.”
Graves is as a boatswain’s mate, a jack-of-all-trades job. He said he steers the vessel, operates the crane that lowers smaller boats from the ship to the water, mans the .50-caliber machine guns and does almost anything else that needs done.
“Boatswain’s mates, they’re the handymen of the Navy,” said Graves.
However, he said his goal to become a special operations diver. He tested for the special operations forces and didn’t qualify, but he isn’t giving up. “My dream is to go back to diver.”
His long-term plans are to serve in the Navy for 20 years and then retire to pursue other interests. He has been in uniform for a year and four months so far.
“I want to go up as far up (in rank) as I can,” said Graves.
The military is in his blood.
He was born at Fort Sumter, S.C., where his father, Roy Graves, was stationed. He said his father retired following a career in the Army.
His mother, Keli Kohrman Graves, died five years ago due to a medical condition, said her mother Pat Kohrman.
She said they are from Uniontown.
Graves said his father’s military career took the family from South Carolina to Okalahoma, where his mother died, and finally to Grapevine, Texas, where his lives now.
He said he is marrying a woman, who also serves in the Navy, in December and he plans to bring her to Pennsylvania when they have time off.