She was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center.

She is the fifth in a new class of warship designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. She will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.

Later ships in the same class will include the USS Arlington, the location of the Pentagon in Virginia, also struck by a hijacked jetliner on Sept. 11, and the USS Somerset, named for the Pennsylvania county where United Flight 93 crashed after its passengers fought off hijackers apparently planning to attack a Washington, DC target.

The name New York has been borne by at least seven different United States military ships, most recently the nuclear submarine USS New York City, which was commissioned in 1979 and retired in 1997.

Construction on this 684-foot amphibious assault ship, USS New York, began at a shipyard in Avondale, Louisiana. She was christened there on March 1, 2008. She will be commissioned in 2009.

Three veteran employees of Amite Foundry open the
ladle containing more than 20 tons of molten steel,
from the World Trade Center. The steel become the
bow-stem of USS New York (LPD 21) named
in honor of the victims and heroes of the
September 11, 2001 tragedy.

Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast her bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept 9, 2003, 'those big, rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence,' recalled Navy Captain Kevin Wensing, who was there.

'It was a spiritual moment for everybody.'

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 for all of us,' he said.

Her motto is, 'Never Forget!'