The new Navy assault ship USS New York, built with World Trade Center steel, passing by the Statue of Liberty.
First responders, families of Sept. 11 victims and the public gathered Monday at a waterfront viewing area, where they could see the crew standing at attention along the deck of the battleship gray vessel, AP reported.
The big ship paused. Then the shots were fired, with a cracking sound, in three bursts.
The bow of the US$1bil ship, built in Louisiana, contains about 7.5 tonnes of steel from the fallen towers.
"It's a transformation ... from something really twisted and ugly," said Rosaleen Tallon, who lost her firefighter brother, Sean, on 9/11. "I'm proud that our military is using that steel."
Tallon said her brother, who was a Marine, would have been proud.
JoAnn Atlas, of Howells, New York, who lost her husband, fire Lt. Gregg Atlas, draped a flag-themed banner along the fence. The names of emergency workers who died were written on the red stripes.
At a short ceremony later at Pier 88 near the site of the aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the USS New York couldn't have a more fitting name, representing freedom, courage and resilience.
"This ship is actually a physical representation of that spirit with steel from the World Trade Center built into its bow so every friend that sets foot on it and every foe that dares challenge it will feel its power and know that it is literally made from the heart and soul of the city that has scarified so much," the mayor said.
Of the 361 sailors serving aboard the ship, around 13 percent are from New York state, which is higher than would normally be the case, Murphy said.
The ship is 684 feet (208 meters) long and can carry as many as 800 Marines. Its flight deck that can handle helicopters and the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.
The ship is technically known as a San Antonio-class amphibious dock vessel.
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