Ship made with Trade Center steel deploys

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NORFOLK, Va., March 28 (UPI) -- A U.S. Navy ship made with steel salvaged from the World Trade Center has begun its first deployment, bound for the Persian Gulf.

The amphibious transport dock ship USS New York, whose bow is made in part from 7 tons of steel recovered from the Sept. 11, 2001, crash site, left Norfolk, Va., Naval Station Tuesday, and will join two other new ships that will spend at least six months in training exercises and responses to political and humanitarian crises, The (Norfolk, Va.) Virginian-Pilot reported Wednesday.

The New York's commanding officer, Cmdr. Mark Herrmann, is a Long Island native and a New York City firefighter's nephew, who said at the deployment ceremonies that the ship represents everything the nation has overcome since the attacks in Manhattan.

The ship is manned by 360 sailors. A total of 3,200 Marines will board the group's three ships in North Carolina for the trip across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf, the newspaper said.