Today, some of what we lost returned

The USS New York steams into New York harbor

The USS New York, with 7.5 tons of salvaged World Trade Center steel forged into her bow stem, sailed into New York harbor today.

I had no idea she was coming. Or that she’d been under construction in Louisiana since 2004. But she arrived “home” today. I cried when I heard about her.

Magnificent, isn’t she?

Her motto is “Strength forged through sacrifice. Never forget.” Her crest includes the Twin Towers, a ship’s bow, a phoenix, the colors of NYC’s first responders, and drops of blood for those who perished on 9/11. Her official website is here and the website for her November 7 commissioning is here. Both are chock full of information about the ship and how she came to be.

She’ll be open for free public visits while she’s in New York. Wish I lived close enough to go see her.

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Note: I dug around for more than an hour, trying to confirm exactly what the “bow stem” is, if it isn’t the bow itself. I finally found this picture of New York‘s bow stem on a shipbuilding site. The red part sits below the waterline. The white-primed section, according to another site, is the actual bow stem containing the WTC steel.

USS New York's bow stem