By Lawrence HaftL, associate editor

Specifications for the USS New York Length: 684 ft. Beam (width): 105 ft. Displacement: Approximately 24,900 long tons full load Speed: In excess of 22 knots Propulsion: Four sequentially turbocharged marine Colt-Pielstick diesels, two shafts, 41,600 shaft horsepower Crew: Ship's company: 360, Landing force: As many as 800 Marines. Target: Terrorists and other enemies of the United States

Steel from the wreckage of New York's World Trade Center was melted and cast for the bow stem for the USS New York at AmericCast Technologies' Amite Foundry and Machine in Amite, La.

Avondale, La. – Fabricating a ship is still as much art and craft as it is engineering and science, and right now 200 welders at the Northrop Grumman Ship Systems shipyard in Avondale, La., are getting to use their skills to build a fighting monument that honors the innocent people who were killed in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

That monument is LPD 21, an amphibious troop ship designed to carry U.S. Marines into battle and named the USS New York to honor those who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center.

The ship's motto, appropriately enough, is "Never Forget," and the ship is tied to the victims of that a t t a c k i n f a r more than just name: More than 200,000 tons of steel were salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, including a mangled and twisted piece of steel that was loaded onto a flatbed truck and sent to AmericCast Technologies' Amite Foundry and Machine in Amite, La. (www.americasttech.com). That mangled I-beam – one of the last salvaged from the World Trade Center wreckage – was melted and recast into what would become the USS New York's 7.5 metric ton (16,535 lb.) bow stem.

Welding is the largest labor component in shipbuilding. Welders fabricate a ship's frame. Decks, bulkheads, doorways, engine mounts, all of the ship's pipes and even its skin all are fabricated and attached to the frame by welders. Even the stuff that gets bolted into a ship is bolted into a mount that is welded to the ship, and all of it is done by hand.

However, welding the salvaged steel from the World Trade Center was done by hand – and by heart. "When that steel bow stem got here everyone wanted to touch it," said Michael Norman, crane department superintendent at the Avondale yard. "Everyone was drawn to it. You can't explain what you are feeling, and just about everyone in this shipyard lined up to look at it and were drawn to touch it like it was some kind of magnet. It makes this ship different from every other one."

"A lot of our people saw the details about 9/11 on TV, but there didn't seem to be anything we could do about it," said "Big" Randy Edwards, assistant to the ship superintendent. "Then we found out that the metal was going to be in this ship, and it touched a lot of people. It gave us a way to show support for what those folks up in New York suffered. Everyone working on this ship thinks about it every day.

"The ship is something special. Nobody complains about working in the heat or the rain like they usually do. I think everyone is trying to do the best job they can on this ship," Edwards added.

The bow stem is the forwardmost part of the ship. It breaks through the water to make way for the rest of the vessel.

Junior Chavers, plant operations manager at Amite Foundry and Machine, said the steel for that bow stem affected him and his people at the foundry.

"When that steel came in and I laid my hands on a piece of it, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. There was something present in the air," Chavers said. After it was cast, the bow stem was shipped to the Avondale shipyard.

It was welded into place last August, and became a permanent part of the ship and a touchstone and reminder to all who are working on the USS New York.

"Knowing that some of the steel used in the bow of this ship came from the World Trade Center wreckage really makes this ship special, and makes me proud to work on it," said Ronald J. Fontenot, a firstclass welder at the shipyard. "I'm happy to be able to do something that honors the people who lost their lives on 9/11."

"It has been an unforgettable experience and quite an honor for me to work on this ship," said Joseph Dumas, another first-class welder. "Just to be able to contribute to this memorial to all of the people who lost their lives on 9/11, well, it makes me feel special and proud. I believe that working on this ship has brought people together here, especially after hurricane Katrina. We're all working together to build a special ship that will soon sail as a sign of freedom for all the world to see."

The shipyard is on schedule with LPD 21 even though it is working with less than 80 percent of its normal crew because many workers have not yet returned after the Katrina evacuation. Many of the welders who were forced to evacuate have found good paying jobs elsewhere, especially in Texas with its current oil boom.

But pay raises in the newest union contract coupled with a generous benefits package, the opportunity for overtime and no end to the work that needs to be done are drawing welders back. The problem is in finding housing. The areas devastated by Katrina's floodwaters still have not been rebuilt, and the resulting housing shortage makes finding adequate housing difficult and expensive.

The Avondale yard usually employs about 600 welders, but it is at least 100 welders short of what is needed. The welders usually work four 10-hour shifts per week, but with the shortage they are racking up plenty of overtime.

On the USS New York, nearly 150 welders work on the first shift, and as many as 75 work on the second shift. The shipyard has a training center where welders can improve and upgrade their skills and ratings if they want to.

"We use traditional welding: flux core, shielded metal arc, submerged arc and gas tungsten arc are probably 98 percent of all the welding we do," said Lee Kvidahl, Northrop Grumman's sector manager for welding.

"All the welding is done by hand. No robotics. We currently don't use any laser welding but we are working with development labs to demonstrate the capability of the process for our application. We use 100 percent carbon dioxide for most shielding and 100 percent argon for the gas tungsten welding we do mostly on pipes."

"Shipbuilding probably has a higher percentage of out-of-position welding than any other industry," said Norris "Black" Pertuit, deputy director of the Hull department and superintendent of welding at the Avondale yard.

"Out-of-position welding is tougher to do physically and skillwise. We try to minimize such work using modular construction with welding and pre-outfitting. You can then flip the units over when you erect them into the ships to make it easier, more efficient and more productive."

The yard uses ceramic tape welding on vertical and overhead welding as much as possible. Ceramic tape with a slight groove in it is attached to the backside of a butt joint so that when the joint is welded the molten metal is kept in the joint. The groove forms the bead on the backside of the weld. After welding, the tape is removed and discarded.

Most of the steel used to fabricate the ship is cut from 0.375 in. to 1-in. thick plates by plasma cutters on enormous CNC cutting tables. When you are building a 684-foot-long ship from scratch you need big machines.

The cutting tables used at Avondale were supplied by ESAB Welding and Cutting (www.esab.com) and MG Systems & Welding, Inc. (www.mg-systems-welding.com).

"We've supplied equipment to Avondale for maybe 30 years," said Ron Schneider, marketing manager for MG Systems. "They have three model TMC6028 and two model TMC4528 machines. Four of the five machines run on a common rail over a downdraft table 28-ft. wide and more than 100-ft. long. They can cut multiple parts simultaneously, including mirror-image parts for the left and right sides of the ship. The cutting heads are set up to cut a top bevel, a land and a bottom bevel in the same pass so the parts are already prepped for welding."

The ESAB cutting table uses Avenger 2 units on a 26.25-ft.-wide by 136-ft.-long water table. A large reinforced, heavy wall box beam spans the cutting area and can have up to 12 cutting stations. Avondale uses four plasma cutters.

After the plates are cut they go into the giant roller room for shaping. After shaping, the pieces get prefabricated as much as possible and then transported to and hoisted into position at the construction site.

USS New York The keel of the USS New York (LPD 21) was laid in September, 2004, and it is to be launched in Fall, 2007. It will be commissioned at special ceremonies in New York City in 2008. It is the fifth ship of the San Antonio class of amphibious ships and only the second Navy ship built in the city for which it was named after. Because of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the USS New Orleans would have been the most special ship that the men and women of the Avondale yard ever worked on, but the USS New York and the powerful message its bow stem sends has eclipsed it. For more information about the USS New York and other San Antonio class ships, go to www.pms317.navy.mil.