Navy vessel built with 9-11 steel sails up New York's Hudson River

Nov 2, 2009, 18:01 GMT

A woman holds an American flag in the foreground as the USS New York (LPD21), an amphibious transport dock ship built with 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center in the bow, heads up the Hudson River in New York, New York, USA on 02 November 2009. The USS New York will be commissioned for duty on 07 November 2009. EPA/JUSTIN LANE

New York - A United States Navy assault vessel built partly with 7.5 tons of steel debris from the World Trade Center sailed up New York's Hudson River on Monday in its first tribute to the more than 2,700 people killed in the September 2001 terrorist attacks.

The steel was collected from the 110-storey twin towers of the trade center, which collapsed to the ground on September 11, 2001 when two terrorist-hijacked commercial planes were used as missiles against them.

The steel wreckage was used in the bow of the USS New York and was melted at a foundry in Louisiana. The assault navy vessel, with a crew of 360, began its journey down the Mississippi weeks ago to its home port in Virginia before sailing to New York.

News reports said the USS New York stopped at a pier in lower Manhattan facing the new World Trade Center under construction to pay tribute for those killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Welcoming the vessel at the pier were police, firefighters, military personnel and family members of the victims. The vessel will dock at Pier 88 on the Hudson River alongside the USS Intrepid, now a floating museum visited by tourists, while visiting New York City.