The USNS Mendonca arrived at The Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor’s dry dock facility located on the eastern tip of The Peninsula late Tuesday night.

The 70,000-ton vessel, just back from Iraq, is a large class, medium speed, roll-on/roll-off ship and has arrived in Bayonne for maintenance and painting before it returns to Iraq.

“We are so thrilled the US Navy Ship Mendonca has come to Bayonne’s dry dock,” said Mayor Joseph V. Doria Jr. “Landing a job like this is great for The City of Bayonne.”

Central Jersey Marine Industries operates the dry-dock, and is the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority’s (BLRA) second biggest lease tenant, and a company that will continue occupancy at The Peninsula through 2015.

The Mendonca is a non-combat vessel, crewed by 20 civilian mariners and operated by theMilitary Sealift Command. Its roll-on/roll off design makes it ideal for transporting helicopters, tanks, andother wheeled and tracked military vehicles.

“Good things are happening at the Bayonne dry dock. The Mendonca is the second Navy ship tocome to Bayonne since we signed our 10-year lease with the Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority,”said Mike Cranston, President of Bayonne dry dock. The Mendonca has approximately 390,000 squarefeet of cargo-carrying space.

Sergeant Leroy A. Mendonca, for whom the ship was named, was awarded the Medal of Honor for defending a newly-won, hilltop position against an assault by a large enemy force near Chick-on, Korea, in July of 1951. Mendonca’s platoon was under great pressure and was ordered to withdraw from a secondary line of defense but Sgt. Mendonca voluntarily remained in an exposed position and covered the platoon’s withdrawal. It is estimated that Sergeant Mendonca accounted for 37 enemy casualties. He enabled the platoon to assume a defensive position from which they repelled the enemy attack and
maintained possession of the hill.

For more information about The Bayonne Local Redevelopment Authority, please visit
www.bayonnenj.org/blra.

 

Back To Press Releases