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 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..
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.’
The ship’s motto? ‘Never Forget’
Please keep this going so everyone can see her!
Boadicea's Chariot 
She’s a beauty, and a lovely story too.
Thanks for this, Zen.
OZ
Great story Zen, looks a mighty mean piece of kit.
There’s also the USS Somerset.
The name honors the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 whose actions prevented terrorist hijackers from reaching their intended target, forcing the airplane to crash in Stonycreek Township in Somerset County, PA, on September 11, 2001. In the words of Secretary of the Navy Gordon England, “The courage and heroism of the people aboard the flight will never be forgotten and USS Somerset will leave a legacy that will never be forgotten by those wishing to do harm to this country.” (wiki link here)
and
USS Arlington
Named for Arlington, Virginia, the location of the Pentagon. Like her sister ships, USS New York and Somerset, she is named in commemoration of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Steel taken from the Pentagon after the September 11 attacks will be displayed aboard (Wiki link here)
God bless all three of them!
All very moving and I mean no offence to the author but….
Is this not a case of the greatest of ironies? 9/11, awful as it was, seems to me, and I only offer this as an opinion, not as a rant or anti anything (except war), but, wouldn’t the steel be better used in a positive way rather than as a killing machine? Perhaps a school, or hospital or even a memorial could have used the steel just as well.
I’m not in the conspiracy camp here, but it just seems to me that the yanks aren’t happy unless they have an enemy to go butcher. By killing more ‘terrorists’ they are merely living up to the label given to them as imperialists of the worst kind thus recruiting more ‘terrorists’?
When will we ever learn?
‘Plowshares into swords’!
wouldn’t the steel be better used in a positive way rather than as a killing machine?
Only when the rest of the world thinks so too.
The Americans are a vengeful people – make no mistake about it!
Oh dear, cuprum, we’ve learned already – it’s the other lot that keep needing to be reminded – and the pusillanimous politicians who seem to have no idea of the proper use of force in the national interest – Bosnia, Serbia, the mess in Iraq, the mess in Afghanistan…
Agreed!
Bravo – you’re right I’m sure about you and I and the average chap and chappess on the street, but we still keep electing the buggers!