BreakTheChain.org
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Ship ShapeDate Added: June 20, 2007
It is a symbol of freedom, of perseverence and of conquering your enemies. It is a testament to the American spirit and it is completely true... well, almost.
USS New York It was built with 24 tons of scrap steel from the World Trade Center . It is the fifth in a new class of warship - designed for missions that include special operations against terrorists. It will carry a crew of 360 sailors and 700 combat-ready Marines to be delivered ashore by helicopters and assault craft. Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, LA to cast the ship's bow section. When it was poured into the molds on Sept. 9, 2003, "those big rough steelworkers treated it with total reverence," recalled Navy Capt. Kevin Wensing, who was there. "It was a spiritual moment for everybody there." Junior Chavers, foundry operations manager, said that when the trade center steel first arrived, he touched it with his hand and the "hair on my neck stood up." "It had a big meaning to it for all of us," he said. "They knocked us down. They can't keep us down. We're going to be back." The ship's motto? "Never Forget" Please keep this going so everyone can see what we are made of in this country! The information above is basically correct and most of it was taken from an Associated Press report published April 4, 2006. The project was first announced in 2002. Not only will the ship include 25 tons of steel pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center, it also has the distinction of having survived Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Workers in the Avondale, Louisiana, shipyard where the New York is being built took up temporary residence there after the storm destroyed their homes.
In late, 2006 - perhaps because the chain offered no date for the completion of the ship and many people thought the chain had been around long enough for the ship to be done - the painting was replaced in most versions by a photograph. The ship in the photo currently circulating with the chain and featured above, is actually the U.S.S. San Antonio. It is the same class as the New York, but not the same ship. The U.S. Department of Defense has offered very little in terms of a launch date for the actual U.S.S. New York, but news coming out in late May, 2007 revealed that the warship will be christened in New Orleans later in 2007 and and commissioned in New York City in a very public televised event "at an unspecified date in the future." The ceremony will be viewed by millions worldwide and will feature new shongs from Nashville Records, officially commissioned by the Department of Defense, and will be viewed by tens of millions worldwide. References: Nashville Records Selected for 'The USS New York', Navy ship with WTC steel survived Katrina's assault, Snopes.com, About.com
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What earns this chain a place in the BreakTheChain.org hall of shame is the photograph. When this chain began circulating in early 2006, it was accompanied by an artist's rendition of what the ship may look like, complete with a partially completed Freedom Tower on the New York skyline behind it.