USS New York (LPD-21)
USS New York (LPD-21) is a , and the fifth ship of the United States Navy named after the state of New York. Naming Shortly after September 11, 2001, Governor of New York George E. Pataki wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon R. England requesting that the Navy bestow the name New York on a surface warship involved in the Global War on Terrorism in honor of the victims of the September 11 attacks. Pataki wrote that he understood state names were reserved for submarines, but he asked for special consideration so the name could be given to a surface ship. The request was approved on 28 August 2002. Sister ships names announced On 9 September 2004 Gordon R. England, then the Deputy Secretary of Defense, announced that two of New York sister ships would be named and in commemoration of the places where two of the other planes used in the attacks came down: Arlington County, Virginia, and Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Construction A symbolic amount of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center after it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks was used in her construction. The ship is the first to be designed fully from the CAD-screen up to support both of the Marines' primary mobility capabilities, LCAC landing craft and MV-22B Osprey aircraft. The contract to build New York was awarded to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana, in 2003. New York was under construction in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. of the steel used in the ship's construction came from the rubble of the World Trade Center; this represents less than one thousandth of the total weight of the ship. The steel was melted down at Amite Foundry and Machine in Amite, Louisiana, to cast the ship's bow section. It was poured into the molds on 9 September 2003, with cast to form the ship's "stem bar"—part of the ship's bow. The foundry workers reportedly treated it with "reverence usually accorded to religious relics," gently touching it as they walked by. One worker delayed his retirement after 40 years of working to be part of the project. Christening and delivery New York was christened on 1 March 2008, in a ceremony at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans. Ship sponsor Dotty England, wife of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England, smashed the traditional champagne bottle on the ship's bow and christened the ship New York. Several dignitaries were in attendance, including Louisiana Congressman William J. Jefferson, members of the New York City Police Department and the New York City Fire Department, and family members of victims of the September 11 attacks. The champagne bottle did not break the first time it was struck against the hull of the ship, but the second attempt was successful. The ship was delivered to the Navy on 21 August 2009 at New Orleans. She set sail for Norfolk, Virginia, on 13 October 2009. On 2 November 2009 the ship passed