New York:
The new US navy assault ship USS New York, built with World Trade Centre steel, arrived in its namesake city on Monday with a 21-gun salute near the site of the September 2001 attacks.
First responders, families of the victims and the public gathered on Monday at a waterfront viewing area, where they could see the crew standing at attention along the deck of the battleship vessel.
The big ship paused. Then the shots were fired, with a cracking sound, in three bursts.
The bow of the one billion US dollar ship, built in Louisiana, contains about 7.5 tonnes of steel from the fallen towers.
There were many requests from Navy personnel to serve on the ship, which will carry some 250 Marines.
After the ground zero stop, the ship - escorted by about two dozen tugboats and other vessels - headed up the Hudson River towards the George Washington Bridge.
After a U-turn there, it was to head south to Pier 88. An official commissioning ceremony is scheduled for Saturday.
The New York will remain in the city through Veteran's Day and then head to Norfolk, Virginia, for about a year of crew training and exercises, Lt. Cmdr. Colette Murphy, a Navy spokeswoman said.
The ship is 684 feet long and can carry as many as 800 Marines. Its flight deck can handle helicopters and the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
It was scheduled to be built before the 2001 attacks. About a year later, the announcement came that the ship would bear the name New York to honour the city, state, and those who died.
It's the latest in a line of Navy ships to bear that name.
The others included a Spanish-American War-era cruiser, a battleship that served in World Wars I and II and a nuclear submarine retired from the fleet in 1997.
The ship is technically known as a San Antonio-class amphibious dock vessel.
Four vessels in that class are in service, the USS San Antonio, USS New Orleans, USS Mesa Verde and USS Green Bay.
Four others are being built. Of those, two also have been named in connection with the September 11 attacks.
The USS Arlington was named to honour the victims of the attack on the Pentagon.
The USS Somerset was named after the county in Pennsylvania where United Airlines flight 93 crashed.