In the predawn darkness, an enormous armada of ships will gather south of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge. Then, as the sun begins to rise, the vessels — some sporting 10,000 square feet of sails and cadets, and others housing missiles and more than 15,000 combat marines and sailors — will make their way into New York Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty and towards Manhattan. But unlike the 400 ships that the British amassed in the same place exactly 250 years ago, these ships come in peace.