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USS New York: Steel Pride of 911
This is good news, brothers. We now have another weapon in our arsenal to destroy the terrorists.
USS New York Built With Steel From World Trade Center Set for Christening
Feb. 29: USS New York in Avondale, La.
A new U.S. Navy ship to be christened Saturday was built partly using steel from the 9/11 ruins of the World Trade Center.
The USS New York is now stationed in Avondale, La., where the christening ceremony is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. Central time, according to Northrop Grumman, the ship's manufacturer.
The company says on its Web site that the bow-stem of the ship, the seventh to be named "New York," includes 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center.
The USS New York, an amphibious transport dock ship, is 684 feet long, can top 24 mph, and holds a crew of 360 sailors and three Marines. It is expected to be based in Norfolk, Va.
USS New York Built With Steel From World Trade Center Set for Christening
Feb. 29: USS New York in Avondale, La.
A new U.S. Navy ship to be christened Saturday was built partly using steel from the 9/11 ruins of the World Trade Center.
The USS New York is now stationed in Avondale, La., where the christening ceremony is scheduled to take place at 10 a.m. Central time, according to Northrop Grumman, the ship's manufacturer.
The company says on its Web site that the bow-stem of the ship, the seventh to be named "New York," includes 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center.
The USS New York, an amphibious transport dock ship, is 684 feet long, can top 24 mph, and holds a crew of 360 sailors and three Marines. It is expected to be based in Norfolk, Va.
“It sounds trite, but I saw it in their eyes,” Teel said in a separate interview. “These are very patriotic people, and the fact that the ship has steel from the trade center is a source of great pride. They view it as something incredibly special. They’re building it for the nation.”
USS New York 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.
“It would be fitting if the first mission this ship would go on is to make sure that bin Laden is taken out, his terrorist organization is taken out,” said Glenn Clement, a paint foreman. “He came in through the back door and knocked our towers down and (the New York) is coming right through the front door, and we want them to know that.”
When terrorists crashed two jetliners into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, destroying the twin towers and killing nearly 2,800 people, the $700 million ship was already on the drawing board but had not been assigned a name.
Months later, New York Gov. George Pataki asked the Navy to commemorate the disaster by reviving the name New York for a ship whose role would include fighting terrorism. That required an exception to Navy policy of assigning state names only to nuclear submarines, as they had been to battleships in earlier era.
Then-Navy Secretary Gordon, in announcing the decision, said the New York would “project American power to the far corners of the Earth and support the cause of freedom well into the 21st century.” Its motto is “Never Forget,” a slogan among New Yorkers since Sept. 11.
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 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, 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.”
Later ships in the class will include USS Arlington, the location of the Pentagon, also struck by a hijacked jetliner on Sept. 11, and USS Somerset, named for the Pennsylvania county where United Flight 93 crashed after its passengers fought off hijackers apparently planning to attack another Washington target.
The New York revives a name borne by at least seven previous ships — most recently the nuclear submarine SSN New York City, retired in 1997 after 18 years service.
USS New York 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.
“It would be fitting if the first mission this ship would go on is to make sure that bin Laden is taken out, his terrorist organization is taken out,” said Glenn Clement, a paint foreman. “He came in through the back door and knocked our towers down and (the New York) is coming right through the front door, and we want them to know that.”
When terrorists crashed two jetliners into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, destroying the twin towers and killing nearly 2,800 people, the $700 million ship was already on the drawing board but had not been assigned a name.
Months later, New York Gov. George Pataki asked the Navy to commemorate the disaster by reviving the name New York for a ship whose role would include fighting terrorism. That required an exception to Navy policy of assigning state names only to nuclear submarines, as they had been to battleships in earlier era.
Then-Navy Secretary Gordon, in announcing the decision, said the New York would “project American power to the far corners of the Earth and support the cause of freedom well into the 21st century.” Its motto is “Never Forget,” a slogan among New Yorkers since Sept. 11.
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 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, 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.”
Later ships in the class will include USS Arlington, the location of the Pentagon, also struck by a hijacked jetliner on Sept. 11, and USS Somerset, named for the Pennsylvania county where United Flight 93 crashed after its passengers fought off hijackers apparently planning to attack another Washington target.
The New York revives a name borne by at least seven previous ships — most recently the nuclear submarine SSN New York City, retired in 1997 after 18 years service.
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