Milind G
Made from the World Trade Centre
It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Centre. The $ 1 billion ship was built in Louisiana with about 7.5 tons of World Trade Centre steel melted down and used in the bow. It is the fifth in a new class warship – designed for mission, that include special operations against terrorists. It carries a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft.
Steel from the World Trade Centre was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship’s bow section. When it was poured into the moulds on September 9, 2003, ‘those big rough steelworkers treated it total reverence,’ recalled Navy Captain Kevin Wensing, who was there. ‘It was a spiritual moment for everybody there.’
Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the Trade Centre steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the ‘hair on my neck stood up.’ ‘It had a big meaning to it for all of us,’ he said. ‘They knocked us down. They can’t keep us down. We are going to be back.’
The ship’s motto? ‘Never Forget.’
