Setting sail for New York Harbor 2009
For Scott Koen, just as it had been for the nation as a whole, the events that unfolded on the sunny Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001 would be etched in his mind forever. A resident of Rutherford and at the time, a director of operations at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, the terrorist attacks and the loss of innocent lives weighed heavily on his conscience. Add in the mix that he’s a volunteer fire fighter and the mood gets a little more somber knowing many that died that day were brothers in a way. His father was also a 20-year military veteran, so patriotism also ran through his veins.
His basement is a mini archive to the military. On the walls hang pictures of fallen soldiers, plans for naval ships and articles documenting the demise of the Twin Towers. There’s clay shavings sitting on a well-lit desk that he frequents often, working on a bald eagle, the symbol of American pride.
Memorials were being planned in nearly every town on both sides of the Hudson where 9/11 impacted most, but having a job on the Intrepid gave Koen a unique idea as how to memorialize those lost; this time, a sea worthy memorial.
"When it happened, I could tell you right off that it was something that was going to change the world," said Koen. "In the days after, my first thoughts were anger, but I’ve always been artistic, so I started to design a memorial."
For the World Trade Center Site Memorial Contest, he created a steel bald eagle protruding out of pieces of remains that were left in the rubble. It didn’t materialize, but then another thought occurred. His idea for the bald eagle came from the bow of the 1893 armored cruiser U.S.S. New York. He said, let’s make a naval ship and use the steel from the World Trade Center to construct it.
Koen, realizing that hundreds of thousands of tons of steel was in the process of being salvaged at various yards around the tri-state area, thought some of it could go to use. A beam from one of the towers now sits in Rutherford’s Lincoln Park World Trade Center Memorial, for instance. However, Koen was thinking just more than a beam…he was thinking tons, tons that could be incorporated into one of the new naval ships the government was proposing after 9/11, an amphibious transport dock in the San Antonio Class. Koen said it should be named the U.S.S. New York and so an idea began to turn into reality.
"I believe it's every American’s responsibility to do something. I grew up in a military family, but I didn’t serve myself, so if you have a chance to do something even as simple as putting an American flag on your car or yellow ribbon on your car, it means something" said Koen. "I came up with the U.S.S. New York. Whether big or small, I think it's each and everyone's responsibility to help the men and women that go out and defend this county."
Koen talked to the Intrepid’s CEO at the time, Bill White, about the idea and in turn, White spoke with Chief of Naval Operations Vern Clark who loved the idea. The next task was finding the steel and getting approval to name the LPD-21 amphibious transport ship the U.S.S. New York. The name has been used six times for ships already, but shortly after 9/11, the secretary of the Navy Gordon England was approached about the idea by former New York Governor George Pataki. The idea was approved.
The towers contained nearly 300,000 tons of recyclable steel according to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey reports, so Koen knew it was out there. Upon request of Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, the ship’s builder, the Navy decided to help seek it out. Koen in the meantime was calling around to different salvage yards that were contracted to recycle the steel, making some headway. Many times he said he would get shocked responses at the shear mass of steel he needed. Finally, Hugo Neu Schnitzer East of Jersey City, one of the scrap dealers contracted to do the salvage work came through, granted the transfer of 24 tons of steel to Louisiana where the ship is under construction.
"It's the Phoenix, it's rising again out of a terrible moment. A great ship is going to come and the ship is going to become America's greatest naval ambassador," said Koen. "Every place that ship goes, it's going to represent those 3,000 people that died and it's going to represent the World Trade Center and they're going to realize they can't knock us down…that we will be back. It's the same quotes we heard after 9/11. If you knock us down, we're going to take whatever gets knocked down, make something out of it and come right back at you."
The strange part of the proposal was the last ship to hold the New York name, the U.S.S. New York BB-34, had its keel laid on Sept. 11, 1911. It was exactly 90 years to the day before the World Trade Center was attacked.
So from the ashes, the 24 tons has been melted down and seven are being used for the bow of the ship. It will be the steel that cuts through the water and leads the ship’s way. A report in Time Magazine from March 22, 2006 said workers at the shipyard reported that the hair stood up on the back of their necks and some put off retirement to work on the ship. The ship’s motto is "Never Forget."
Much like the World Trade Center, the steel once again endured tremendous tragedy in Louisiana. In August 2005, the ship was slammed by Hurricane Katrina. The steel and the ship survived, a glowing tribute in itself to keep persevering for the American people.
"It’s already got two battle stars now, the first being 9/11," said Koen. "It’s like the phrase on the monument outside the United Nations. We will beat this sword into a ploughshare and the ploughshare into a sword. We did just that with this."
