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From Fox News:
The annual U.S. Navy invasion known as Fleet Week opened in New York on Wednesday with a flotilla of five American warships and three Canadian entries to add an international flavor to the 21st annual observance. Some 3,000 sailors and Marines disembarked from the ships during the eight-day event that includes public tours and a variety of aerial and simulated combat technique demonstrations by Marine Corps units.
A decade ago, as many as a dozen ships from several nations took part in Fleet Week, but the size of the assemblage has diminished in recent years. The last time it included a full-size aircraft carrier was in 2005, when the USS John F. Kennedy made its final appearance before being retired. New York City policy bars nuclear-powered craft from the harbor, effectively denying port calls by the Navy's newer fleet carriers.
… The Canadians restore a cachet absent in 2007, when the USS Winston S. Churchill, a destroyer named for Britain's World War II prime minister, provided the nearest thing to a foreign flavor.
The opening procession was led by the USS Kearsarge, a 40,500-ton amphibious assault ship that carries both helicopters and surface boats. Others are the guided missile cruisers USS Leyte Gulf and USS Monterey, and guided missile destroyers USS Nitze and USS The Sullivans.
… Two Canadian frigates, HMCS Toronto and HMCS St. Johns, and an oiler, HMCS Preserver, and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Ida Lewis round out the lineup.
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