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New York -
The new Navy assault ship New York, built with World Trade Center steel, arrived in its namesake city today with a rifle volley salute near the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
First-responders, families of Sept. 11 victims and the public gathered at a waterfront viewing area, where they could see the crew standing at attention along the deck of the battleship gray vessel.
The big ship came to a standstill. Then the shots were fired in three bursts.
The bow of the $1-billion ship, built in Louisiana, contains about 7.5 tons of steel from the fallen towers.
"It's a transformation . . . from something really twisted and ugly," said Rosaleen Tallon, who lost her firefighter brother, Sean, on Sept. 11. "I'm proud that our military is using that steel."
Tallon said her brother, a Marine, would have been proud too.
JoAnn Atlas of Howells, N.Y., who lost her husband, fire Lt. Gregg Atlas, draped a flag-themed banner along the fence. The names of emergency workers who died were written on the red stripes.
"We have to remember," she said. "It's a way to honor them."
Nancy DiGiacomo came from Huntington, on Long Island, with her husband, 9-year-old son, mother and sister.
"I just thought it was important to see," she said. "From that, something else can come of it."
At a short ceremony later at Pier 88, near where the aircraft carrier Intrepid serves as a museum, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the New York couldn't have a more fitting name, representing freedom, courage and resilience.
"This ship is actually a physical representation of that spirit with steel from the World Trade Center built into its bow so every friend that sets foot on it and every foe that dares challenge it will feel its power and know that it is literally made from the heart and soul of the city that has sacrificed so much," the mayor said.
After stopping near ground zero, the ship -- escorted by about two dozen tugboats and other vessels -- headed up the Hudson River toward the George Washington Bridge. After a U-turn there, it headed south to Pier 88. An official commissioning ceremony is scheduled for Saturday.
The New York will remain docked at Pier 88 through Veterans Day and then head to Norfolk, Va., for about a year of crew training and exercises, Murphy said.
The New York is technically known as a San Antonio-class amphibious dock vessel. Four vessels in that class are in service, the San Antonio, New Orleans, Mesa Verde and Green Bay. Four others are being built. Of those, two also have been named in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Arlington was named to honor the attack on the Pentagon. The Somerset was named after the county in Pennsylvania where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed.
First-responders, families of Sept. 11 victims and the public gathered at a waterfront viewing area, where they could see the crew standing at attention along the deck of the battleship gray vessel.
The big ship came to a standstill. Then the shots were fired in three bursts.
The bow of the $1-billion ship, built in Louisiana, contains about 7.5 tons of steel from the fallen towers.
"It's a transformation . . . from something really twisted and ugly," said Rosaleen Tallon, who lost her firefighter brother, Sean, on Sept. 11. "I'm proud that our military is using that steel."
Tallon said her brother, a Marine, would have been proud too.
JoAnn Atlas of Howells, N.Y., who lost her husband, fire Lt. Gregg Atlas, draped a flag-themed banner along the fence. The names of emergency workers who died were written on the red stripes.
"We have to remember," she said. "It's a way to honor them."
Nancy DiGiacomo came from Huntington, on Long Island, with her husband, 9-year-old son, mother and sister.
"I just thought it was important to see," she said. "From that, something else can come of it."
At a short ceremony later at Pier 88, near where the aircraft carrier Intrepid serves as a museum, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the New York couldn't have a more fitting name, representing freedom, courage and resilience.
"This ship is actually a physical representation of that spirit with steel from the World Trade Center built into its bow so every friend that sets foot on it and every foe that dares challenge it will feel its power and know that it is literally made from the heart and soul of the city that has sacrificed so much," the mayor said.
After stopping near ground zero, the ship -- escorted by about two dozen tugboats and other vessels -- headed up the Hudson River toward the George Washington Bridge. After a U-turn there, it headed south to Pier 88. An official commissioning ceremony is scheduled for Saturday.
The New York will remain docked at Pier 88 through Veterans Day and then head to Norfolk, Va., for about a year of crew training and exercises, Murphy said.
The New York is technically known as a San Antonio-class amphibious dock vessel. Four vessels in that class are in service, the San Antonio, New Orleans, Mesa Verde and Green Bay. Four others are being built. Of those, two also have been named in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Arlington was named to honor the attack on the Pentagon. The Somerset was named after the county in Pennsylvania where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed.
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