U.S.S. New York - 684 ft. Of Payback For 9/11 :: War on Terror

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July 27, 2007

U.S.S. New York - 684 ft. Of Payback For 9/11

In case you missed it, a new ship has "taken hold of the hearts and minds" at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems shipyard in Avondale, La. 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.

The ship is named the USS New York, a San Antonio-class assault ship, and it carries a powerful message in its bow which is made from tons of the twisted scrap metal - the blooded metal - salvaged from the World Trade Center terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001:

[...] The story behind the naming of the ship - the LPD 21 - is that New York Governor George E. Pataki wrote a letter shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England to ask that Navy bestow the name USS New York on a surface warship involved in the War on Terror in honor of September 11's victims. The request was approved August 28, 2002, and the keel for the ship was laid in September 2004. The name, by the way, is for the State of New York, not the city.

Twenty-four tons of the steel used in the construction of the LPD 21 came from the rubble of the World Trade Center, including seven tons that was melted down and cast to form the ship's bow stem.

[...] the workers at the Avondale Shipyard treated the ship with a reverence that usually is reserved for religious relics.

"When that steel bow stem got here everyone wanted to touch it," Michael Norman, crane department superintendent at the Avondale yard, said. "Everyone was drawn to it. You can't explain what you are feeling, and just about everyone in this shipyard lined up to look at it and were drawn to touch it like it was some kind of magnet. It makes this ship different from every other one."

Steel from the wreckage of New York's World Trade Center was melted and cast for the bow stem for the USS New York at AmericCast Technologies' Amite Foundry and Machine in Amite, La.

The ship's motto? Appropriately, it's "Never Forget."

Hat tip - Harry Owens

Posted by Richard at July 27, 2007 1:18 PM

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