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USS New York LPD 21
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' 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'
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