Editor’s note: This article was originally published in September 2018.

Sailors aboard the USS New York pay their respects every year to those who died in the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The plan for Tuesday is to perform the ceremony at Naval Station Mayport, the home base for the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock.

But this ship carries more than a New York name. Reminders of 9/11 abound. Its very nose is made from steel salvaged from the wreckage of the World Trade Center. And its sailors are taught to never forget their connection to the catastrophe.

“Every ship in the Navy has a namesake room or a legacy room, but on our ship the whole ship is a legacy to what happened,” Command Master Chief Ben Hodges said.

A steel plate recovered from the Trade Center rubble is on display above one of the most-used passageways. A firefighter’s helmet reminds sailors of the first responders who sprung into action.

Hodges said the reminders extend to the ship’s daily prayer ritual, for which the chaplain chooses the name of someone who died in the attacks to honor. It all makes it impossible to forget Sept. 11, he said.

“We talk to all of our sailors when they initially check