The USS New York, built with tonnes of steel salvaged from the World Trade Centre towers, began its journey to New York today after undocking from a New Orleans-area shipyard.
The assault ship, named in honour of those killed in the 9/11 attacks, left the Northrop Grumman shipyard for a trip to its namesake city. The vessel will sail down the Mississippi river, through the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida and up the Atlantic coast on its voyage to the Big Apple.
The 208 metre- (684 foot-) long ship has a flight deck and can carry 800 marines. About 7.5 tonnes of steel from the World Trade Centre was melted at the Bradken Inc foundry in Amite, Louisana and used to construct the ship's bow.
Doug Lounsberry, a Northrop Grumman deputy manager, said the ship is important to the workers who constructed it - not only because it commemorates those killed in the 2001 attacks, but also due to the setbacks they overcame following Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Lounsberry said: "It's like raising a kid. We're sending this one off to college. But after they leave, they remain near and dear to your heart."
Hundreds of people lined the banks of the Mississippi to watch the ship as it passed. Among them were Christine Cox, of Sterling, Virginia who said: "It's awesome for anything so tragic to be so uplifting here."
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