MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Twin Towers steel debris sail up the Hudson as “USS New York”

The assault vessel paid tribute with a 21-gun salute to those killed on September 11/2001

A United States Navy assault vessel built partly with 7.5 tons of steel debris from the World Trade Centre 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 centre, 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 Centre under construction and fired a 21-gun salute to pay tribute for those killed in the September 11, 2001.

Welcoming the vessel at the pier were police, fire-fighters, military personnel and family members of the victims.

The US Navy is to hold an official commissioning ceremony for the new warship on Saturday.

The vessel is docked at Pier 88 on the Hudson River alongside the USS Intrepid, now a floating museum visited by tourists, while visiting New York City.

The ship's crest includes images of the Twin Towers and features the colours of the city departments that first responded to the terrorist attacks.