Nov 2, 2009 10:45 am US/Mountain
Warship Made With WTC Steel Arrives In NYC
The USS New York Was Named To Commemorate The Sept. 11 Terrorist Attacks
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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The USS New York, an amphibious transport dock ship, arrives in New York on Nov. 2, 2009. The ship, scheduled to be commissioned Nov. 7, 2009, has 7.5 tons of World Trade Center steel in her bow.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
The new Navy assault ship USS New York, built with World Trade Center steel, arrived in its namesake city with a 21-gun salute near the site of the 2001 terrorist attack.
First responders, families of Sept. 11 victims and the public were invited Monday to a waterfront viewing area, where they could see the crew standing at attention along the ship's deck.
The big ship paused. Then the 21 shots were fired, with a cracking sound, in three bursts.
The bow of the $1 billion ship, built in Louisiana, contains about 7.5 tons of trade center steel.
After the ground zero stop, the ship sails up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge. Then it turns around and heads south to Manhattan's Pier 88. The official commissioning ceremony will be on Saturday.
Rosaleen Tallon, whose firefighter brother Sean Tallon died in the attacks, was among the crowd on Monday morning.
"I think it's a really nice tribute," she said, adding that her brother, who also was a Marine, would be proud.
She said she was glad that steel from the fallen towers would be used in a new form.
"It's a transformation of it from something really twisted and ugly," Tallon said. "I'm proud that our military is using that steel."
Lt. Cmdr. Colette Murphy, a Navy spokeswoman, said she was excited for those serving on board to see how the city would welcome them.
"I think it's going to be awe-inspiring," she said.
Of the 361 sailors serving aboard the ship, around 13 percent are from New York state, which is higher than would normally be the case, Murphy said.
There were many requests from Navy personnel to serve on the ship, which will also be carrying around 250 Marines, she said.
LCPL Nelson Acevedo from Miller Place thinks the new ship sends a message.
"This ship represents those who have died and survived it, we're paying homage to them. we're pretty much showing our enemies and everyone else out there, that you can do whatever you want to us, and we're going to sit here and smile at you, no matter what you do we're always going to be here standing here, defending our nation," Acevedo told CBS station WCBS-TV in New York City.
The New York will remain in the city through Veteran's Day and then head to Norfolk, Va., for about a year of crew training and exercises, Murphy said.
The ship is 684 feet long and can carry as many as 800 Marines. Its flight deck that can handle helicopters and the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
It was scheduled to be built before the terrorist attacks. About a year later, the announcement came that the ship would bear the name New York to honor the city, state, and those who died.
It's the latest in a line of Navy ships to bear that name. The others included a Spanish-American War-era cruiser, a battleship that served in World Wars I and II and a nuclear submarine retired from the fleet in 1997.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg boarded the ship in Raritan Bay, off Sandy Hook, New Jersey on Sunday night to watch the Yankees game with the troops.
"We're just so thrilled the Navy chose to name a ship after our city. It's a long tradition as I said before, the last USS NY, the keel was laid 90 years to the day before the terrible tragedy of 9/11," said Bloomberg.
The ship is technically known as a San Antonio-class amphibious dock vessel. Four vessels in that class are in service, the USS San Antonio, USS New Orleans, USS Mesa Verde and USS Green Bay. Four others are being built. Of those, two also have been named in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
The USS Arlington was named to honor the attack on the Pentagon. The USS Somerset was named after the county in Pennsylvania where United Airlines flight 93 crashed.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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