WTC Steel To Be Used In USS New York

Dec 25, 2002 12:54 pm US/Eastern (CBS) (ALBANY) Steel salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center will be used to build the Navy's USS New York, a warship named in honor of those who perished in New York on September 11, 2001.

The scrap steel will be extricated from the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island on Friday and trucked south to a Northrop Grumman shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. Northrop Grumman will start building the USS New York in Pascagoula in the middle of next year.

The USS New York will be the fifth of 12 amphibious assault ships in the San Antonio class, which the Navy calls one of its most technologically innovative. The 684-foot vessel will carry a Navy crew of 402 and up to 800 Marines.

If the trade center scrap meets specifications, it will be melted down and used to configure the edge of the bow that cuts through the water, said Northrop Grumman spokesman Jim McIngdale.

"We're very proud that the twisted steel from the WTC towers will soon be used to forge an even strong national defense," New York Gov. George Pataki said. "The USS New York will soon be defending freedom and combatting terrorism around the globe, while also ensuring that the world never forgets the evil attacks of Sept. 11 and the course and strength New Yorkers showed in response to terror."

New York state officials needed to get special authorization from Navy Secretary Gordon England to name the surface vessel the USS New York. Currently, only submarines are given state names. Pataki wanted the USS New York to participate in the fight against terrorism.

It was the Navy's idea to incorporate scrap from the trade center in the new vessel, aides to Pataki said.

The structural steel primarily comes in a beam about 20 feet long and weighing between 20 and 30 tons that was identified by New York City officials in the Staten Island landfill, where the trade center wreckage was dumped. It is believed to have been part of the south tower, the second of the twin skyscrapers to be hit by jetliners hijacked by terrorists on Sept. 11 but the first to collapse.

Most of the structural steel reclaimed from the trade center site has already been sold for scrap.

Several naval ships have held the name USS New York or USS New York City. The most recent USS New York was a battleship, commissioned in 1914, which fought in both European and Pacific waters during World War II. It was a target ship during atomic bomb testing on the Bikini Islands in the South Pacific in July 1946. Too radioactive to be used afterward, the ship was towed off Pearl Harbor, and on July 8, 1948, after an eight-hour pounding by ships and planes carrying out full-scale battle maneuvers with new weapons she sunk. USS New York received 3 battle stars for World War II service.

Previously, a cruiser USS New York fought in the Caribbean during the Spanish-American War. Later renamed the USS Saratoga and USS Rochester, that ship was decommissioned in 1933 and sunk in Subic Bay, the Philippines, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the invading Japanese in December 1941.

New York

History

The fifth NEW YORK (BB-34) was laid down 11 September 1911 by Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York; launched 30 October 1912; sponsored by Miss Elsie Calder; and commissioned 15 April 1914, Captain Thomas S. Rodgers in command.

Ordered south soon after commissioning, NEW YORK was flagship for Rear Admiral Frank Fletcher, commanding the fleet occupying and blockading Vera Cruz until resolution of the crisis with Mexico in July 1914. NEW YORK then headed north for fleet operations along the Atlantic coast as war broke out in Europe.

Upon the entry of the United States into the war, NEW YORK sailed as flagship with Battleship Division 9 commanded by Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman to strengthen the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea, arriving Scapa Flow 7 December 1917. Constituting a separate squadron in the Grand Fleet, the American ships joined in blockade and escort missions and by their very presence so weighted the Allies' preponderance of naval power as to inhibit the Germans from attempting any major fleet engagement's. NEW YORK twice encountered U-boats.

During her World War I service, NEW YORK was frequently visited by royal and other high-ranking representatives of the Allies, and she was present for one of the most dramatic moments of the war, the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in the Firth of Forth 21 November 1918. As a last European mission, NEW YORK joined the ships escorting President Woodrow Wilson from an ocean rendezvous, to Brest en route the Versailles Conference.

Returning to a program which alternated individual and fleet exercises with necessary maintenance, NEW YORK trained in the Caribbean in spring 1919, and that summer joined the Pacific Fleet at San Diego, her home port for the next 16 years. She trained off Hawaii and the West Coast, occasionally returning to the Atlantic and Caribbean for brief missions or overhauls. In 1937, carryi~g Admiral Hugh Rodman, the President's personal representative for the coronation of King George VI of England, NEW YORK sailed to take part in the Grand Naval Review of 20 May 1937 as sole U.S. Navy representative.

For much of the following 3 years, NEW YORK trained Naval Academy midshipmen and other prospective officers with cruises to Europe, Canada, and the Caribbean, and in mid- 1941 she joined the Neutrality Patrol. She escorted troops to Iceland in July 1941, then served as station ship at Argentia, Newfoundland, protecting the new American base there. From America's entry into World War II, NEW YORK guarded Atlantic convoys to Iceland and Scotland when the U-boat menace was gravest, submarine contacts were numerous, but the convoys were brought to harbor intact.

NEW YORK brought her big guns to the invasion of North Africa, providing crucial gunfire support at Safi 8 November 1942. She then stood by at Casablanca and Fedhala before returning home for convoy duty escorting critically needed men and supplies to North Africa. She then took up important duty training gunners for battleships and destroyer escorts in Chesapeake Bay, rendering this vital service until 10 June 1944, when she began the first of 3 training cruises for the Naval Academy, voyaging to Trinidad on each.

NEW YORK sailed 21 November for the West Coast, arriving San Pedro 6 December for gunnery training in preparation for amphibious operations. She departed San Pedro 12 January 1945, called at Pearl Harbor, and was diverted to Eniwetok to survey screw damage. Nevertheless, despite impaired speed, she joined the Iwo Jima assault force in rehearsals at Saipan. She sailed well ahead of the main body to join in preinvasion bombardment at Iwo Jima 16 February. During the next 3 days, she fired more rounds than any other ship present; and, as if to show what an old-timer could do, made a spectacular direct 14"-hit on an enemy ammunition dump.

Leaving Iwo Jima, NEW YORK at last repaired her propellers at Manus, and had speed restored for the assault on Okinawa, which she reached 27 March to begin 76 consecutive days of action. She fired preinvasion and diversionary bombardments, covered landings, and gave days and nights of close support to troops advancing ashore. She did not go unscathed; a kamikaze grazed her 14 April, demolishing her spotting plane on its catapult. She left Okinawa 11 June to regun at Pearl Harbor.

NEW YORK prepared at Pearl Harbor for the planned invasion of Japan, and after war's end, made a voyage to the West Coast returning veterans and bringing out their replacements. She sailed from Pearl Harbor again 29 September with passengers for NEW YORK, arriving 19 October. Here she prepared to serve as target ship in operation "Crossroads," the Bikini atomic tests, sailing 4 March 1946 for the West Coast. She left San Francisco 1 May, and after calls in Pearl Harbor and Kwajalein, reached Bikini 15 June. Surviving the surface blast 1 July and the underwater explosion 25 July, she was taken into Kwajalein and decommissioned there 29 August 1946. Later towed to Pearl Harbor, she was studied during the next two years, and on 8 July 1948 was towed out to sea some 40 miles and there sunk after an 8-hour pounding by ships and planes carrying out full-scale battle maneuvers with new weapons.

NEW YORK received 3 battle stars for World War II service.

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http://www.warships1.com

From Navy Newsstand:

New USS New York will contain steel salvaged from World Trade Center

By Joel Stashenko
Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. — Steel salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center will be used to build the Navy’s USS New York, a warship named in honor of those who perished in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.

The scrap steel will be extricated from the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island on Friday and trucked south to Northrop Grumman’s Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. Northrop Grumman will start building the New York in Pascagoula in the middle of next year.

The New York will be the fifth of 12 amphibious assault ships in the San Antonio class, which the Navy calls one of its most technologically innovative. The 684-foot vessel will carry a Navy crew of 402 and up to 800 Marines.

The $800 million vessel should be ready for active duty in 2007.

If the trade center scrap meets specifications, it will be melted down and used to configure the edge of the bow that cuts through the water, said Northrop Grumman spokesman Jim McIngdale.

“We’re very proud that the twisted steel from the WTC towers will soon be used to forge an even strong national defense,” New York Gov. George Pataki said. “The USS New York will soon be defending freedom and combating terrorism around the globe, while also ensuring that the world never forgets the evil attacks of Sept. 11 and the courage and strength New Yorkers showed in response to terror.”

New York state officials needed to get special authorization from Navy Secretary Gordon England to name the surface vessel the New York. Currently, only submarines are given state names. Pataki wanted the New York to participate in the fight against terrorism.

It was the Navy’s idea to incorporate scrap from the trade center in the new vessel, aides to Pataki said.

Nearly 3,000 people died in the attack on the World Trade Center.

Most of the structural steel reclaimed from the trade center site has already been sold for scrap.

Several naval ships have held the name New York or New York City. The most recent New York was a battleship, commissioned in 1914, which fought in both European and Pacific waters during World War II.

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