Deborah Borza came away with a new appreciation for shipbuilding after seeing the pride of workers and crew of the USS Somerset, which was christened on Saturday in New Orleans.

Borza, whose daughter Deora Bodley died aboard Flight 93 on 9/11, said the ceremony to turn the ship over from the workers to the Navy was much like watching her daughter leave for college.

“I look at it as a continuation of my daughter's legacy and respect for her life and the difference she made for her family and friends,” she said. “It's a great way to honor the passengers and crew. ... It's very special.”

Borza said she was grateful for everyone acknowledged during the ceremony, from shipbuilders who delayed retirement to complete the work to Navy Rear Adm. David Lewis, who spoke of the Flight 93 victims as heroes.

“It was so easy for me to see my daughter's personality in all the people there today, so once again I was with my daughter,” she said.

The vessel is the last of three amphibious transport dock ships named after the places where planes seized by terrorists crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, killing nearly 3,000 people. United Airlines Flight 93 crashed in a field near Shanksville, Somerset County, instead of hitting a target in Washington. All 40 passengers and crew members died.

Flight 93 was hijacked after taking off from New Jersey. It crashed after passengers and crew, some alerted by cellphone calls from loved ones about the other 9/11 attacks in New York, decided to fight the hijackers.

The 384-foot-long USS Somerset is designed to launch helicopters, tilt-rotor aircraft and assault watercraft to bring up to 800 troops to shore. The $1.2 billion ship will be capable of humanitarian relief when needed.

“The men and women of Flight 93 ... thought they were going to San Francisco to work, to play, to learn; to live their lives in peace while others guarded them,” Lewis said at the ceremony. “Instead they found themselves in a war, on the front lines, in the opening battle. It was a new kind of war, one with new rules, maybe no rules at all. They had no preparation, no training, no guidance.

“And they performed superbly.”

About two dozen relatives of the passengers heard Lewis and other military and shipbuilding officials praise their slain family members at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Avondale, a New Orleans suburb.

Patrick White, president of the Families of Flight 93 organization whose cousin, Louis J. Nacke II, was on Flight 93, spoke as a memorial flag he presented to officials flew overhead.

“Just like the Flight 93 victims and crew fought back that day, this vessel is designed to be a first strike vessel. It's so outstanding,” he said in an earlier interview. “It just ties together so many of the things we've worked together on over the years.”

Somerset County Commissioner John Vatavuk, who represented the county, worked to make sure steel from the bucket of a Somerset coal-mining crane was included in the bow of the ship.

“I'm really proud to have been a part of this from the very beginning, and I'm really thankful they've included me in everything they've done,” he said.

The ship's steam and lubrication systems include about 200 steel valves made in Somerset County.

A mast stepping ceremony on Friday dedicated items including commemorative coins, local maple syrup and a postcard of the county's courthouse to be kept in the ship's mast.

Thunderstorms kept Vatavuk and family members from a private tour of the ship on Friday, but Borza said a short tour was given on Saturday after the christening ceremony.

“The ship's on the water, so to be standing on the ship while it was in the water was an honor and very moving to me,” she said.

David Beamer said he and his wife Peggy, whose son, passenger Todd Beamer, gave the signal, “Let's roll!” to begin the passengers' revolt against the hijackers, wanted to meet and thank the builders and crew of the “living memorial.”

“They put their heart and soul into their work, and I felt they put their heart and soul into the USS Somerset in a special way,” he said.

Stacey Federoff is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-836-6660 or sfederoff@tribweb.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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