The new U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS New York has ties to the World Trade Center destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as well as the HVAC industry. The ship’s bow is forged in part from 7.5 tons of steel recovered from the World Trade Center’s demolished twin towers—buildings that had been cooled by York chillers from 1970 until the day of the attacks. Now the USS New York is outfitted with seven York chillers manufactured by Johnson Controls and supplied by the company’s York Navy Systems business headquartered in York, Pa.

Johnson Controls has supplied specially designed chillers to almost every ship in the U.S. Navy and the majority of the naval vessels operated by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Chillers are considered “mission critical” on military ships because they keep sensitive equipment cool and functioning properly, according to Jack M. Barney, director of marketing for York Navy Systems. Chillers supplied to the U.S. Navy are manufactured at the Johnson Controls campus in York, known as the Grantley Technology Center.   

The USS New York is 684 ft long and can carry up to 800 Marines. It has a flight deck that can handle helicopters and a MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. The ship’s keel was laid in August 2004.