Nov 12, 2009 8:34 am US/Eastern
USS New York Leaves NYC For Active Duty
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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The USS New York, an amphibious transport dock ship, arrives in New York November 2, 2009. The ship, scheduled to be commissioned November 7, 2009, has 7.5 tons of World Trade Center steel in her bow.
TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images
The USS New York is leaving the Big Apple Thursday to begin active duty.
Its 11-day visit included a commissioning ceremony, a salute to Ground Zero and public tours. The USS New York will berth at the Naval Weapons Station in Earle, New Jersey until rough weather in the Atlantic Ocean clears.
She'll head to North Carolina to be used to transport marines and their equipment.
The $1 billion warship was built near New Orleans by workers who themselves survived Hurricane Katrina.
The war ship arrived on Monday, November 2, for a week of ceremony and celebration. Its first stop was a very solemn one, occurring near Ground Zero, where the crew paid tribute with a 21-gun salute.
The New York is called an "amphibious transport" and once you step inside you can see she carries weapons of war as well as the Marines trained to use them.
"We're pretty much showing our enemies that you can do whatever you want and we're gonna sit here and smile at you," said Lance Corporal Nelson Acevedo, originally from Miller Place, N.Y.
The ship's bow is built from 7 and 1/2 tons of World Trade Center steel and it's here the ships motto, "Strength through sacrifice. Never forget," has meaning for New Yorkers and the ship's crew.
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