Is the USS New York Really Built with Steel from the World Trade Center?

I remember when the first pictures of the USS New York began to fill my email inbox. I thought it was a joke. I instantly concluded that someone had too much of an imagination. I quickly fired off an email to a Navy friend at Annapolis and then I visited a few sites such as Snopes.com looking for more information. That's when I learned the truth. A ship was being built from the remnants of the Twin Towers attacked on September 11th, 2001. It was real. It did exist.

Today, on November 2nd, 2009, this very real ship and crew were given a 21-gun salute while firefighters, bagpipers, friends and loved ones lined the New York shore. A total of 7-1/2 tons of the ship's bow were made from the steel that once supported the World Trade Center buildings and nearly fifty of the ship's crew of 361 call the state of New York home. The $1 billion ship is as long as two football fields and weighs in at more than 25,000 tons. It is scheduled to remain in New York until Veteran's Day at which point it is scheduled to return to Norfolk, Virginia, for crew training and exercises.

I did some more research and discovered an official site of the USS New York. On it you'll find plenty of pictures, videos and stories behind the construction and launching of this amazing ship designated LPD-21. The San Antonio class ship was built by Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' shipyard located in Avondale, LA. It is the fifth amphibious transport dock of its class.

This is the seventh US ship to be named "New York" and she proudly carries the motto: "Never Forget." Those words are etched on the crest of the ship along with a phoenix rising from the twin towers.

Indeed, I will never forget.

God bless the USS New York and her crew.