STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The annual Parade of Ships proceeded through the waters of New York Harbor Wednesday afternoon in celebration of Fleet Week, a spectacle for those who lined the city’s shores.
But the thought a potential tragedy could happen — like the fatal collision between a Mexican Navy tall ship and the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday — was in the back of some people’s minds.
“Every time one of those situations happen, we say to ourselves ‘wow, hope they’re checking out the Verrazzano Bridge to make sure that nothing like that could ever happen,’” said Joanne Smith, 68, a Great Kills resident who traveled to Fort Wadsworth to watch the procession of Navy and Coast Guard vessels glide under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge…