USS New York put into service
NEW YORK – The USS New York, built with steel from the rubble of the World Trade Center, was put into Navy service yesterday as a symbol of both healing and strength. The $1 billion warship was built near New Orleans by workers who survived Hurricane Katrina.
“No matter how many times you attack us, we always come back,” Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said at the amphibious assault ship’s commissioning. “America always comes back. That’s what this ship represents.” He spoke on a pier where Navy officers and sailors joined first responders and families of 9/11 victims.
The 7 1/2 tons of steel debris from ground zero had been melted down to form the bow of the USS New York as “a symbol of our unshakable resolve; this is a city built of steel,” said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The ceremony was staged on the Hudson River pier that is home to the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum. Among the dignitaries were newly reelected New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and New York Gov. David Paterson. – AP
World Trade Center steel becomes latest 9/11 memorial
A 3,000-pound section of steel recovered from the rubble of the World Trade Center was dedicated Saturday as the city’s newest memorial to the victims of Sept. 11, 2001.
Because the USS New York, which contains World Trade Center steel, was commissioned Saturday adjacent to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, the facility chose the same day for the memorial’s dedication ceremony. It is at the end of Pier 86, off 12th Avenue at West 46th Street, where the Intrepid is moored.
The section of steel, measuring 12 feet high, consists of two parallel I-beams connected by a crossbeam. Pointing skyward, it forms a shape reminiscent of the Twin Towers.
The memorial was dedicated by Gov. David A. Paterson, museum president Bill White and Marine Cpl. Aaron Mankin of Arkansas, who was badly burned while serving in Iraq. The steel section was believed to have been part of the North Tower because of where it was found, White said.
“It will commemorate the lives of those lost eight years ago,” Paterson said.
The memorial’s dedication dovetailed with the commissioning of the USS New York: Both were made with World Trade Center steel, and about one-third of the 3,000 people invited to the ship’s commissioning lost relatives on Sept. 11.
Navy ship built with WTC steel goes into service
By VERENA DOBNIK (AP)
NEW YORK — The USS New York, built with steel from the rubble of the World Trade Center, was put into Navy service Saturday both as a symbol of healing and strength.
“No matter how many times you attack us, we always come back,” Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said at the amphibious assault ship’s commissioning. “America always comes back. That’s what this ship represents.”
He spoke on a Manhattan pier where hundreds of Navy officers and sailors joined first responders and families of Sept. 11 victims.
“I hereby place the USS New York in commission,” Mabus announced.
And with a long drum roll, the ship’s crew was set on the first watch, obeying the order, as traditionally worded: “Man our ship and bring her to life!”
From atop the vessel, decked in red, white and blue bunting, black smoke rose into the chilly fall morning to signal that the USS New York was powered up. A loud cheer accompanied a flyover by Navy planes.
The 7 1/2 tons of steel debris from ground zero had been melted down to form the bow of the USS New York as “a symbol of our unshakable resolve; this is a city built of steel,” said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, representing the Obama administration.
Clinton was a U.S. senator from New York before she became the nation’s top diplomat.
She noted that many of New York’s iconic structures were made from steel, including the Statue of Liberty and the Chrysler building.
“But the strongest steel of New York has always been in the spines of its people,” Clinton said, calling New Yorkers “strivers and seekers, immigrants from every country, speakers of every language.”
The ceremony was staged on the Hudson River pier that is home to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum — against the backdrop of the new vessel docked at the next pier.
Among the dignitaries were newly re-elected New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York Gov. David Paterson and the USS New York’s new skipper, Cmdr. Curtis Jones.
A native of Binghamton, N.Y., he will oversee a crew of 360 sailors on a vessel transporting up to 700 Marines to war zones and humanitarian missions.
The $1 billion warship was built near New Orleans by workers who survived Hurricane Katrina.
“They had to rebuild their lives and their homes at the same time as they built the ship,” said Irwin F. Edenzon, general manager for Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding-Gulf Coast, which built the USS New York.
The new ship is “about healing,” said Mike Petters, president of Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. “It symbolizes much of what is great about America and Americans.”
Arriving in New York on Monday, the ship passed the World Trade Center for the first time and gave the site a rifle volley salute.
The Navy has named two of the USS New York’s planned sister ships the USS Arlington, to mark the attack on the Pentagon, and the USS Somerset, named after the Pennsylvania county where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed.
Saturday’s ceremony began with a moment of silence for the victims of the shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, where an Army major fatally shot 13 people and wounded 29.
The USS New York will be open to the public before returning to its home port of Norfolk, Va., on Thursday.
