
USS New York
It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World
Trade Center.
It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include
special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700
combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.
Steel from the World T! rade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA
to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds
on Sept. 9, 2003, "those big rough
steelworkers treated it with total
reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin
Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual
moment for everybody there."
Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, s aid that when the trade center
steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck
stood up." "It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he
said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be
back."
The ship's motto? "Never Forget"