Eight years after the U.S. began its struggle to rout the forces behind the World Trade Center attack, a piece of the Twin Towers themselves will join the fight.

The 24,000-ton USS New York, built partly of steel recovered from the Trade Center site, arrived in New York Monday, pausing in the Hudson opposite to where the towers once stood and sounding a 21-gun salute.

More than 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center went into the bow stem—the ship’s front end—symbolically leading the ship through the water. The boat’s crest features the silhouette of the Twin Towers rising behind a winged phoenix, with the words “Never Forget” emblazoned beneath it.

During the USS New York’s few minutes opposite the World Financial Center, honor guards from the military services and the Fire and Police Departments stood at attention, facing the ship. Lining the decks, the ship’s crew saluted back.  

About 360 sailors are assigned to the New York, 10 percent of them from New York state. Capable of transporting up to 700 Marines, two full-sized hovercrafts, 14 amphibious assault vehicles and as many as four Iroquois helicopters, it will be the sixth warship in the Navy’s history to sail under the name New York.

“I think it’s a wonderful idea because people should never forget,” said Nancy Cimei, one of the hundreds of spectators gathered along the esplanade to watch the New York make its way into the city. Cimei—who lost her son, firefighter Michael D’auria, when the towers fell—said the event was “more uplifting” than many of the other memorials and dedications she’s attend. “I don’t know if it’s because of the time that it’s been eight years, but it is a positive, something very positive. “

Though the 684-foot warship’s primary function will be to transport Marine and Navy personnel around the world, Brugler said the New York would also provide humanitarian aid and disaster relief when needed.

On the esplanade Monday morning, Marine Major John Sarno vividly recalled watching the horrible events of 9/11 unfold in front of him. That day, he was working as a med-evac pilot. Eight years later, Sarno had the honor of being the first pilot to land an aircraft on the New York.

“It was just phenomenal,” Sarno said. “She’s replacing a ship that’s fifty years old, so to have a brand new ship that was built here in the States with that much meaning behind her, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, then-Gov. George Pataki was informed that the Navy wanted to use a piece of the fallen World Trade Center in its next San Antonio-class warship. At Pataki’s request, it would be named the New York. Two sister ships are planned to commemorate the victims of the attack on the Pentagon and those killed aboard the hijacked airliner that crashed in rural Pennsylvania.

“I think the fact that it’s on the bow of the boat, kind of right out in front, pushing a wave through to protect us really made me feel good,” said Battery Park City resident Patsy Polatcheck, who was on hand to see the New York. “Even the way it looks, the two towers on the ship, look like two towers, you know?”

Mark Schaiming, director of exhibits at the New York State Museum, helped oversee the selection and extraction of a 27-ton steel support box from the Fishkill, NY landfill where it—along with hundreds of tons of WTC wreckage—had been examined for human remains and personal affects. Because of the very rigid composition of the Trade Center’s steel, it needed to be specially refined in order to be suitable for aquatic use. Schaiming said the support box was one of only a handful of remains of the Twin Towers that fit the Navy’s request for a solid piece of steel, between 25 and 30 tons.

“The steel in the USS New York was touched by history,” Schaiming said. “Like a museum artifact, that steel crossed a threshold from a piece of metal to a treasured object.”