Introducing, the 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 including 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 the molten steel was poured into the molds, Sept 9, 2003, "Those big, rough, steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing. "It was a spiritual momen t 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." "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down."

The ship's motto is "Never Forget."

---