AP Photo/Bill Haber
USS New York (United States Ship New York, LPD-21), the fifth ship in the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock was christened by Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England's wife Dotty who smashing a bottle of champagne against it (picture below) in a ceremony attending by thousands held at the base of Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Ship Systems in Avondale, Louisiana on Saturday March 1st.
The amphibious assault ship, the sixth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of New York, was partially built with scrap steel from the World Trade Centre as a floating monument to the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
USS New York christened video report.
George Pataki, the then-New York Governor, asked the Navy to commemorate the disaster by reviving the name New York, which required an exception to Navy policy of assigning state names only to nuclear submarines.
The billion-dollar, 25,000-ton vessel, which can carry a crew of about 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines, is 684 feet long, 105 feet wide.
The warship's bow stem, which contains 7.5 tons of steel from the site, bore a shield with two gray bars to symbolize the twin towers and a banner over that declaring "Never Forget," a slogan among New Yorkers.
Photo credit: Tiffini M. Jones
Along with the steel from one of the worst terrorist attacks in the U.S., it also survived one of the nation's worst natural disasters: Hurricane Katrina.
USS New York's prospective commanding officer is Cmdr. F. Curtis Jones, a native New Yorker, and the ship is expected to be commissioned in New York City in September 2009.
September 11th Families' Association president Lee Ielpi (his firefighter son died at the WTC) said, "[The ship won't be used for war] unless you bother us.....This ship, as it cuts through the water, is going to send a ripple. That ripple will say, 'We cherish our freedom.'"
Apparently , Rep. Vito Fossella, R-N.Y., was aggressive, "If the USS New York has to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell, PCO Jones and his crew ... have my full support."
Source: AP