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 Trade 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 steel workers 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, said 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' USS New York (LPD-21), the fifth ship in the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of New York. The ship was designed to deliver a fully-equipped battalion of 700 Marines.
The ship is the first to be fully designed from the CAD-screen up to support all three of the Marines' primary mobility capabilities—Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), Landing Craft, Landing Craft Air Cushioned vehicle and the MV-22 Osprey.
Shortly after 11 September 2001, Governor of New York George E. Pataki wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England requesting that the Navy bestow the name USS New York on a surface warship involved in the War on Terror in honor of September 11's victims. In his letter, the Governor said he understood state names are currently reserved for submarines, but asked for special consideration so the name could be given to a surface ship. The request was approved 28 August 2002.
Twenty-four tons of the steel used in its construction came from the rubble from the World Trade Center, aside from a small amount preserved for posterity. Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down at Amite Foundry and Machine in Amite, Louisiana to cast the ship's bow section. It was poured into the molds on 9 September 2003. With seven tons melted down and cast to form the ship's "stem bar" — part of the ship's bow. The shipyard workers reportedly treated it with "reverence usually accorded to religious relics", gently touching it as they walked by. One worker actually delayed his retirement after 40 years' work in order to be a part of the project.
On 9 September 2004, the Secretary of the Navy announced that two of her sister ships will be named Arlington and Somerset, in commemoration of the places two of the other planes used in the attack came down: Somerset County, Pennsylvania and Arlington, Virginia.
The contract to build New York was awarded to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana in 2003. New York was under construction in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina.
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