The Ferrum Chronicles:
Steel Recycling In Ships Of The United States Navy

April of 2019

A rendering of what the USS Enterprise (CVN-80) will look like when in service to the people of the
United States of America.  The ship is being built with approximately 67,000 tons of steel in
Newport News, Virginia.  (The image is provided courtesy of U. S. Navy.)

One of the largest customers of steel in the United States is the U. S. Department of Defense.  Steel is used in a variety of motor vehicles, ships, planes, weapon systems, and other pieces of equipment and products used by the branches of the military.

For the United States Navy, steel is a critical component in the construction of new ships.

In this news column, we look at how steel – in particular, specific elements of recycled steel – have been and are being utilized in the building of ships for the U. S. Navy.

“Approximately 67,000 tons of steel will be used to build the newest USS Enterprise (CVN-80),” according to Mr. Bobby Gulaskey, Project Manager for CVN 80/81 Carrier Construction Program Office at Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries.  “The steel is coming from mills in Indiana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.”

(Note:  The United States Navy uses abbreviations to describe certain types of ships, including “CVN” to designate a ship as an aircraft carrier powered by nuclear propulsion, “CV” to designate a ship as an aircraft carrier, and “LPD” to designate a ship as a landing platform/dock or an amphibious transport dock.)

Though it is uncertain the exact amount of recycled steel that is being used in the construction of the USS Enterprise (CVN-80), it is highly likely that the steel utilized to build this new aircraft carrier contains a high quotient of recycled steel.

Steel is one of the most recycled products in the world.

According to the American Iron and Steel Institute, “Recycling in an integral part of the steelmaking process because the use of steel scrap lowers the environmental impact of steelmaking as well as the total cost of producing new steel.  In 2018, the amount of steel scrap recycled by the United States steel industry was 60.1 million metric tons.”

The USS Enterprise under construction today is the ninth ship in the United States Navy that will carry that name.  The USS Enterprise (CV-6) was a Yorktown-class ship commissioned on May 12, 1934.  That ship – the seventh with that name – saw service at a number of battles during World War II;  she was decommissioned on February 17, 1947.

The first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the United States Navy – the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) – was the eighth ship with that name.  She was commissioned on November 25, 1961, saw service throughout the world, and was officially decommissioned on February 3, 2017.

This photograph shows nighttime operations on the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) on
August 6, 2012, in the Arabian Sea, according to the U. S. Navy.  (The photograph was
produced by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Sam Shavers and is provided courtesy of the U. S. Navy.)

Newport News Shipbuilding constructed both the CV-6 and the CVN-65 ships and is currently building the ninth ship to bear the name “USS Enterprise”.  This new ship is scheduled to be delivered to the United States Navy in 2028.

The recycled steel being used in the newest USS Enterprise (CVN-80) includes some steel with very special meaning to the American people.

A worker is seen here cutting steel from a section of the decommissioned USS Enterprise (CVN-65)
in dry dock at Newport News, Virginia.  (The photograph is provided courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries.)

“Approximately 30,000 pounds of steel was removed from the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and sent to the ArcelorMittal Steel Plant in Coatesville, Pennsylvania,” stated Mr. Gulaskey.  “The workers there melted down the steel and re-purposed it into new steel plates to be utilized in the construction of the new USS Enterprise (CVN-80).”

“We are very proud of the steel we produce here in Coatesville,” stated Mr. Vonie Long, President of the United Steelworkers Union Local 1165 in Coatesville.  He is going on 25 years working as an electrician doing preventive maintenance in the steel mill in that Pennsylvania community;  Mr. Long is a fourth-generation steelworker.

“As a veteran of the U. S. Navy, I know first-hand how important quality work is to the military,” Mr. Long continued.  “Our members have produced high-grade quality steel for many ships, including the USS Enterprise.”

Mr. Gulaskey indicated that steel plates from Coatesville arrived in the steel fabrication shop at Newport News Shipbuilding in 2018.  The plates will be finished and then used in the construction of the new USS Enterprise (CVN-80).

A steel plate from the decommissioned USS Enterprise (CVN-65) is seen here
being unloaded for use on the new aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-80).
(The photographs are provided courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries.)

“While it may not be able to be measured, there is a deep sense of pride at Newport News Shipbuilding as ships are built for the United States Navy,” stated Mr. Gulaskey.  “I’ve been here since 1982.  We are continuously improving design and construction of ships for the military.”

“My dad worked for U S Steel for more than twenty years,” Mr. Gulaskey continued.  “I went to school on the design side of steel construction and got to work with a number of welders.  It gave me a great appreciation for what my dad did in the 1960’s and 1970’s at U S Steel.”

Mr. Gulaskey noted that a number of employees at Huntington Ingalls Industries have family connections within the steel and the shipbuilding industries.

“We have a young lady here who is the third generation in her family to be building ships for the U. S. Navy,” explained Mr. Gulaskey.  “Her family helped build the USS Enterprise (CVN-65).  The father of another employee here also worked on the CVN-65.”

The USS New York (LPD-21) is seen here as she passed by the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor
in November of 2009.  The ship includes recycled steel from the World Trade Center.  According to
the U. S. Navy, this ship was designed to “be used to transport and land Marines, their equipment
and supplies, by embarked air cushion or conventional landing craft and Expeditionary Fighting
Vehicles amphibious assault vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing
aircraft.”  (The photograph was produced by Petty Officer 3rd Class Barbara Patton and
is provided courtesy of the U. S. Coast Guard.)

The efforts to include elements of a historical nature in a new ship are not limited to the newest USS Enterprise.

The USS New York includes steel that was previously part of the World Trade Center in the City of New York.

Steel trees built at Lukens Steel (now ArcelorMittal Steel) in Coatesville in 1968 formed the base of the World Trade Center.  After the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, some of those steel trees remained standing in the midst of the horror of that day.

According to Mr. Duane Bourne, Manager of Media Relations at Huntington Ingalls Industries, some of the steel from the World Trade Center was sent to the Ingalls Shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The steel was “then…taken to a foundry in Amite, Louisiana, and was melted there and poured into a casting that was in the shape of the bow stem of the ship,” stated Mr. Bourne.

These photographs show some of the steel from the World Trade Center
being melted at the former facility of Amite Foundry and Machine, Inc.
for use in the USS New York.  (The photographs are provided courtesy
of Huntington Ingalls Industries.)

The U. S. Navy reported that “Mrs. Dotty England, the ship’s sponsor and the wife of former Secretary of the Navy Gordon England, [stated that] ‘I went to the pouring of the steel down at Amite, Louisiana, and not just myself, but everybody connected in that steel mill, treated that steel with utmost dignity.  It was rather quiet, everybody handled it with dignity.  The steel workers in Amite felt like they were contributing to the defense of the nation.’”

The recycled steel was then moved to the former shipyard operated by Huntington Ingalls Industries in Avondale, Louisiana, according to Mr. Bourne.  That is where the USS New York was built.  “The ship's bow stem contained seven-and-a-half tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center,” explained Mr. Bourne.

The crest of the USS New York is displayed above.  The U. S. Navy noted in its details
about this crest that “the motto, ‘Never Forget’, is a stark reminder of the events on which
the legacy of USS New York is built.”  The USS New York was launched on December 19, 2007,
according to the U. S. Navy.  She was the fifth ship with the name “New York” in the history
of the American military.  (The image is provided courtesy of the U. S. Navy.)

Do you have questions about the steel industry? Governmental regulations?  Company operations?

Your questions may be used in a future news column.

 Contact Richard McDonough at ferrumchronicles@gmail.com.

© 2019 Richard McDonough