Nov 2, 2009 2:01 pm US/Eastern
Ship Built With WTC Steel Arrives In NYC
USS New York Arrives To The Big Apple
Navy Assault Ship Travels Up Hudson River, Makes Stop Near Ground Zero For 21-Gun Salute
By CBS 2's Rob Morrison
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
-
-
People wave an American flag as the USS New York enters New York harbor November 2, 2009 on its way past the former World Trade Center site.
STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images
The new Navy assault ship USS New York, built with World Trade Center steel, arrived in its namesake city Monday with a 21-gun salute near the site of the 2001 terrorist attack.
First responders, families of Sept. 11 victims and the public gathered Monday 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 paused. Then the shots were fired, with a cracking sound, in three bursts.
SLIDESHOW: USS New York Arrives In NYC
Flanked by Coast Guard and police cutters and helicopters, The New York passed under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge around 7:30 a.m., bringing lower Manhattan into clear view for the first time in her long journey.
For some sailors and marines, it was the first time they saw the city for which their ship is named. But for others this is home port.
"It's actually a little bitter sweet. The skyline is a little different. Everytime I've gone past it since 9/11, the skyline is a little different," said Roosevelt resident Ensign Jamal Headen.
As the ship passed the Statue of Liberty and pulled in line with Ground Zero, the 21-gun salute was an especially poignant moment for everyone on board, especially for those who lost loved ones that tragic day.
"It's a way of honoring my cousin. He was in Tower 1. It's hard, but everyday I try to make him proud," said P.O. Thomas Grawl of Brooklyn.
At a short ceremony later at Pier 88 near the site of the aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the USS 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 scarified so much," the mayor said.
After the ground zero stop, 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 in the city through Veteran's Day and then head to Norfolk, Va., for about a year of crew training and exercises.
The ship is 684 feet long and can carry as many as 800 Marines. Its flight deck that can handle helicopters and the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
It was scheduled to be built before the terrorist attacks. About a year later, the announcement came that the ship would bear the name New York to honor the city, state, and those who died.
It's the latest in a line of Navy ships to bear that name. The others included a Spanish-American War-era cruiser, a battleship that served in World Wars I and II and a nuclear submarine retired from the fleet in 1997.
The ship is technically known as a San Antonio-class amphibious dock vessel. Four vessels in that class are in service, the USS San Antonio, USS New Orleans, USS Mesa Verde and USS Green Bay. Four others are being built. Of those, two also have been named in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
2009 Celebrity Deaths
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments