The US Navy’s latest amphibious assault ship USS New York (LPD-21), commissioned in New York on November 7th 2009, is a ship with a difference. In a poignant reminder of attacks on the World Trade Center a little more than eight years ago, her bow has been built with steel recovered from rubble at the scene of the terrorist atrocity. Some 7.5 tonnes of steel from the fallen towers have been used in the ship’s bow stem, a symbolic move that will forever tie her sailors and marines to the citizens of the great US city.
Friday, November 20, 2009
As she came to a halt immediately across the water from the World Trade Center site on November 2nd, she dipped her flag and delivered a 21-gun salute. Representatives from New York’s Fire Department, Police Department and Port Authority, as well as relatives of 9/11 victims and members of the general public, stood on the shore at World Trade Center North Cove to return the salute.
She is the latest in a series of US Navy vessels to be protected with a range of International Paint products. Altogether, about 100,000 gallons of products have been used on board the Landing Platform Dock Ship, built at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems-Avondale Operations in Avondale, Louisiana.
“We are honoured that our products have been chosen to be used on this symbolic vessel,” commented John Mangano, International Paint’s Business Development Manager for the Americas. “We extend our very best wishes to the new vessel and all who sail in her in the years ahead.”
The ship’s home port will be Norfolk, Virginia.
