Europa Newswire.
Photo by Gerry Gilmore.
WASHINGTON - A new Navy ship named in honor of the courage displayed by
New York City's residents during and after the Sept. 11, 2001,terrorist attacks received its official commission Nov. 7.
The USS New York recalls "the searing memories of Sept. 11" as well as
"the bravery of the rescuers, the resolve of the survivors, the
compassion of this city and the patriotism of this great country,"
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said during the ship's
commissioning ceremony at New York City harbor. Clinton was a member of
the U.S. Senate representing New York state during 9/11.
Part of the bow, or front, of the new ship, Clinton said, is
constructed of 7.5 tons of melted-down steel taken from the wreckage of
the World Trade Center's twin towers that were destroyed during the
terrorist attacks.
The motto of the USS New York, Clinton said, is "Strength Forged through Sacrifice: Never Forget."
No one "will ever forget the image of twisted girders and shattered
beams looming above the smoldering pile" of wreckage, Clinton said.
The USS New York is a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship.
It was christened March 1 in a New Orleans' shipyard by Dotty England,
the ship's sponsor and wife of former Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon
England.
The USS New York and its crew, Clinton said, will join in the fight
against terrorism and extremism and also perform humanitarian missions
worldwide.
The new ship's first commander is Navy Cmdr. F. Curtis Jones, a native
of Binghamton, N.Y. The vessel has a crew of more than 350 sailors and
can transport a landing force of 800 Marines and their equipment.
Clinton was accompanied at the ceremony by Navy Secretary Ray Mabus;
Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations; Marine Corps
Commandant Gen. James T. Conway; and other senior officials.
Mabus hailed the USS New York as "a visible testament to our
resilience, to the character of this city, to the strength of this
country."
The 9/11 attacks, Mabus said, failed to destroy neither America's spirit nor its resolve to defeat worldwide extremism.
"And, that's what this ship represents," he said.
Mabus saluted the men and women who comprise the New York's crew.
"The nation and our Navy are incredibly proud of you and all that you
have done to prepare the New York for her operational life," Mabus said
of the ship's crew. "You have begun to shape the spirit and the soul of
this ship, just as surely as the builders laid the keel, placed the
engines, [and] installed the weapons."
The New York and her Sailors and Marines are now "ready to sail in
harm's way, on any point on any of the world's oceans, to prevent
conflict, when possible, and to win decisively, when necessary,"
Roughead said.
The U.S. flag that waves above the New York's decks, Roughead said,
serves "as a symbol and a message of freedom, of commitment and of
resolve."
As the New York embarks on her maiden voyage, Conway said, the warship
"will carry the spirit, the determination, and the defiance that has
always been America."
And, though terrorists attacked the American homeland eight years ago,
they "will not change who we are or what we believe," Conway vowed.
