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American Morning

Battleships in N.Y. Harbor For Annual Fleet Week Celebration

Aired May 23, 2002 - 09:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, New York is on terror alert. But no, that's not the reason the battleships are in the harbor. They're here for annual Fleet Week celebration. But following the latest terror warning, there is no denying the city is on edge, and the arrival of over a dozen navy ships and about 6,000 sailors has only added even more concerns.

CNN's Michael Okwu joins us from a pier on the Hudson River. He has moved.

Good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL OKWU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

I'm here on the USS Starfish with Captain Tim McGee. He's not too worried about the terrorist threats at this point. He just wants to explain this remarkable ship, which is not something terrific to look at, but it's got all sorts of incredible gadgets. What is the point of this vessel?

CAPT. TIM MCGEE, U.S. NAVY: Well, thank you, Michael.

You know, the officer naval research is like the Wall Street of the Navy. We invest in that discovery and invention; it's going to build the next Navy, and the Navy after next. This ship tests those great ideas, and that's the environment to make sure they are going to work before we put them out to the rest of the Navy.

OKWU: I take this anchor in your hand has something to do with -- or propeller, has something to do with testing.

MCGEE: Anchor was probably the right word. It looks like a propeller. It feels like an anchor. What the Navy did after the Cole was very concerned about small boats coming within range of our ships. This is called an entanglement, a running entanglement here. Petty officer Evans over here has a remote-controlled device that radio controls this jet ski at 40 knots and it will employ this entanglement here around the ship, and it can prevent here from coming toward your ship without having to use deadly force on them.

OKWU: So this vessel is basically controlled, remote controlled. It has got a little camera on it so you can go and find the bad guys.

MCGEE: Absolutely. She can see what the robot sees from these two little cameras, right here and right here, and then we can use this to keep the bad guys from hitting our ship.

OKWU: It very James Bond-ian.

MCGEE: Oh, absolutely. James would love to be riding on this.

OKWU: So what is this? I see that there is a lobster here. I mean, you can't expect that the bad guys would actually think that's a lobster.

MCGEE: We're hoping that they're going to eat it, Michael, but really that's robo-lobster. It was designed by Dr. Joe Airs (ph), and it was designed with a neuronetwork, which means it's designed to think just like a lobster thinks. Lobsters have survived in the environment for thousands of years. This will go through the surf zone and then look for mines, and those little claws in the front, those will be plastic explosives, and they will be able to go off and detonate the mines so the mines can be cleared before...

OKWU: Remarkable. A quick shot of this robot here. It's a larger one, and I think we've got an even smaller one down here. Presumably, they do the same thing.

MCGEE: These robots right here were used at the World Trade Center, and they were designed for our U.S. Marine Corps to get out on the battlefield and take a look around.

OKWU: Well, Captain Tim McGee, I really appreciate your time. The public can come and take a good look at all of these devices when this place is opened at noon. Noon until 5:00, and it will happen for a whole week.

MCGEE: All week long.

OKWU: Yes, have until Tuesday. And make sure to plan time, because you are going to have to go through security.

Back to you, Paula.

ZAHN: Boy, it's well worth the effort, though. I think this will be my seventh year in the row I've gone down there with the kids. It's really great fun. And we appreciate the accessibility the Navy gives all of us as well.

Thank you, you two. Appreciate it.

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