What sets the USS New York apart? Its construction incorporates 7.5 tons of steel salvaged from the ruins of the World Trade Center which fell on September 11, 2001, the victim of terrorist attack. The steel was melted down and poured into a mold to form the bow stem of the USS New York. The idea for using recovered steel from the World Trade Center is not credited to any one person but it is known that then Governor George Pataki was instrumental in seeing that the steel made its way to the Amite Foundry and Machine, Inc., Amite, La., as a gift from the citizens of New York to the Navy.
Shipbuilders who worked on the USS New York feel a special bond with her. The USS New York was in the area, just a few miles up the Mississippi river, when Hurricane Katrina hit. They weathered the storm together and some of the shipbuilders' lives were impacted dramatically. Many of them lost their homes and had to live in an onsite bunker to keep working on the USS New York. Some have said that the USS New York represents resurrection to them.
