Warship Built with Twin Tower Steel in NYC

USS New York Sails Past Ground Zero; 7.5 tons of World Trade Center Steel Used on Ship

(CBS/AP)  The new Navy assault ship USS New York, built with World Trade Center steel, arrived in its namesake city Monday with a 21-gun salute near the site of the 2001 terrorist attack.

First responders, families of Sept. 11 victims and the public gathered Monday at a waterfront viewing area, where they could see the crew standing at attention along the deck of the battleship gray vessel.

The big ship paused. Then the 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 steel from the fallen towers.

"It's a transformation ... from something really twisted and ugly," said Rosaleen Tallon, who lost her firefighter brother, Sean, on 9/11. "I'm proud that our military is using that steel."

Tallon said her brother, who was also was a Marine, would have been proud.

The symbolism was lost on none of the sailors or Marines on board, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod.

"I will never forget what that felt like, standing on the flight deck, coming up the Hudson river, passing right by the statue of liberty, paying honor at ground zero," said Capt. Jim Pekula.

JoAnn Atlas, of Howells, N.Y., who lost her husband, fire Lt. Gregg Atlas, draped a flag-themed banner along the fence. The names of emergency workers who died were written on the red stripes.

"We have to remember. It's a way to honor them," she said.

Members of the public included Nancy DiGiacomo, who came from Huntington, N.Y., with her husband, 9-year-old son, mother and sister.

"I just thought it was important to see" the transformation of the tragedy's wreckage, said DiGiacomo. "From that, something else can come of it."

Lt. Cmdr. Colette Murphy, a Navy spokeswoman, said she was excited for those serving on board to see the city's "awe-inspiring" welcome.

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 carry some 250 Marines.

After the ground zero stop, the ship - escorted by about two dozen tugboats and other vessels - headed up the Hudson River toward the George Washington Bridge. After a U-turn there, it was to head south to Pier 88. An official commissioning ceremony is scheduled for Saturday.

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.

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.

[timdgrim]

The Industrial War Complex and it's latest vessel of destruction.
How's that stock doing?

[tiredofliberals]

Would you rather be dead from an extremist bullet? Are you a commy?

[wdh3007]

If only they could build a missle defense shield on the ship like the one they were considering for an entire country in Europe.

[incog-nito]

I wonder if it will melt if hit by enemy fire.

[recovery4life09]

WHY WOULD YOU MAKE IT A warship? Come on seriously why couldn't they have just made a ship for peace.

[kamsack50]

Anyone remember the 1972 crashed Eastern Airlines Fl.401 ghosts Bob Loft and Dan Repo? Appeared on later planes that used engine parts from that plane until they took the parts out. Many sightings of the ghosts. Flights canceled and people taken to hospital in shock. Most convincing ghost sightings I ever heard of. Anyone remember?

[45ford]

oh crikey. i bet you still have the defunct phone number for Dionne Warwick's Psychic Friends Network still programmed in your rotary dial phone too -- alongside the one for John Edward's Crossing Over, right?

[CommentMaker]

Looks like there are three (3) kinds of people in the good ol' USA.

1. Turn the other cheek.
2. Revenge at all cost.
3. Lay down and spread your legs while wagging your tale.

Never submit, never forget.

[dronemonk]

Another story for the fascist symps amongst us. Rejoice at death and war! Bow down to the power of the State! (be sure to act shocked SHOCKED! I say, when the wheels come off thanks to the kind of spending you worship...in the meantime, enjoy your warship porn.)

[zoopster1]

Oh shut up you idiot. The last thing I need is some tree-hugging hypocrite like you throwing insults like "fascist symps" around. You display a shocking lack of knowledge of US history when you spout inane anti-government nonsense like that.

The fact that we memorialize victims of a tragedy by commissioning a warship in their honor is nothing new, and completely in keeping with more than 200 years of history and tradition. Seriously, why gripe now when it has been a fact of life here since colonial times? If you really hate it here so much, do us all a favor and MOVE please.

Meanwhile us "fascist symps" will just continue to enjoy simple things like central air conditioning and heating, lights, television, cars, and grocery stores stocked with fresh produce, without complaint. None of these things would be possible without our kids fighting the kind of wars that hypocrites like you benefit from as well, yet poo-poo in almost the same breath. Your snide elitism under the guise of faux intellectualism is an insult to the real "free thinkers" in this country: the people who read and know our history, blemishes and all, and above all recognize that all the things we currently take for granted often comes at a terrible price.

[dronemonk]

Rote propaganda nastiness from a standing army worshiper? Here's a news flash for the well fed, air conditioned, television owning, car driving, crypto fascists amongst us. Our life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness springs from a higher source than over-financed faux-imperial troops raiding 3rd world nations in our names. Look it up. It's in our nation's Constitution.

[CommentMaker]

This is a clip from Globalsecurity.com - "Named for the state of New York, the ship and her motto "Never Forget" honor the victims and first responders of the Sept. 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks. Constructed in Avondale, La., the ship contains 24 tons of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center within the 311-ton bow unit."

They claim 24 tons in lieu of 7.5 tons in this article. Which one is right?

[newerdeal]

At least they did not build it so high in the air that people can't escape if it catches on fire.

That WTC was a fire trap if there ever was one.

Strange that Bin Laden noticed that fact and the NYC fire inspectors did not.

[SBrownFACT]

Maybe if "DaVicar8" was a patriot, he/she would get it. I'm a lifelong New Yorker, lived through the 9/11 tragedy, and have been waiting eight long years for payback. 3,000 of my fellow citizens lost their lives needlessly as a result of Al-Quaida's cowardly attacks, and hopefully the USS New York will be able to participate in the aqction that will wipe this scurge off the face of the Earth.