USS New York stops in Hampton Roads

NORFOLK, Va. - The tribute ship USS New York, built with steel from the Twin Towers, made a stop Thursday at its homeport, Naval Station Norfolk.

The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship left Louisiana, where builders welded 7.5 tons of steel from the fallen Twin Towers, last week on its way to New York to be commissioned November 7.

The USS New York (LPD-21), named to commemorate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, is 684 feet long and can carry up to 800 Marines. It has a flight deck that can handle helicopters and the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

Two other ships are currently under construction to join the New York as tribute ships.  The USS Arlington and USS Somerset also carry names connected to the Sept. 11 attacks: Arlington for the attack on the Pentagon and Somerset for the Pennsylvania county in which United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after being hijacked.

The New York revives a name held by at least four other Navy ships, including 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.

LPD-21 is the fifth in the San Antonio-class series. The first four - USS San Antonio, USS New Orleans, USS Mesa Verde and USS Green Bay - are already in service.

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On the net: http://www.ussny.org/index.php