Navy marks start on 3rd ship memorializing 9/11

[unhappycamper]

Navy marks start on 3rd ship memorializing 9/11
By Alan Sayre - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Dec 11, 2009 16:14:33 EST

AVONDALE, La. — A ceremony steeped in shipbuilding tradition kicked off major construction Friday on Navy amphibious transport dock named in honor of United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

It is the second of three new Navy ships named for the sites of the Sept. 11 attacks. The USS New York entered service last month and the Arlington, memorializing the strike on the Pentagon, is under construction.

At the Northrop Grumman Corp. shipyard near New Orleans, the keel of the Somerset — named for the Pennsylvania county where Flight 93 went down, killing all 40 passengers and crew members — was authenticated by the ship's sponsor, Mary Joe Myers, the wife of retired Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"Out of tragedy, we can now turn our focus to a tribute to those brave men and women of Flight 93," Myers said. The ship will "take the power and courage of the United States to the four corners of the world."

Myers initialed a plaque stating the keel — the ship's basic foundation — has been "truly and fairly laid." Afterward, Northrop Grumman welder Lanford Bridges cut the initials into the plaque with a torch.


Rest of article about this $1.2 billion dollar wonder at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/12/ap_navy_somerset_121109/

[chandler2]

1. Has the Navy named anything in honor of U.S.S. Liberty? nt