From: Dave Merchant (nesys_com@ameritech.net)
Date: Tue Apr 12 2005 - 11:39:31 PDT
Is GL involved in this?
Dave Merchant
>USS AMERICA CV/CVA-66 MUSEUM FOUNDATION,Inc.
>http://www.ussamerica-museumfoundation.org
>120 N Cedar Lane
>Upper Darby, PA 19082-1306
>
>Press Release
>
>Contact: GREGORY W.MOORE RESERVATIONS OFFICER Phone: (215) 805-9260
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
>
>NAVY TO SINK SUPERCARRIER FOR TESTS
>LARGEST SHIP EVER DELIBERATELY DESTROYED FOR RESEARCH, SHIP WAS NAMED AT
>EXPRESS DIRECTIVE OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY
>
>On April 19th, 2005, the USS America (CV/CVA-66) will cast off her mooring
>lines and go to sea for the last time. The Navy plans to deliberately sink
>her for test purposes In order to gain information they deem necessary for
>the design of their future carrier fleet.
>
>The USS America was commissioned in 1964, and was named prior to her keel
>being laid down, by the then President of the United States, John F Kennedy,
>whose Presidency was cut short by his tragic assassination on November 25,
>1963. No other carrier has borne the name of our country, and the USS
>America is unique in this fact of being named "out of class".
>
>She will be the largest warship, and the largest (and only carrier) sunk by
>any nation, in peace, or in war, according to a statement by NAVSEA (Naval
>Sea Systems Command), the Governmental agency responsible for running the
>tests. They claim that the tests are necessary to provide proof of concept
>for the new classes of carriers now being designed and to provide valuable
>data to insure the safety of crews of those ships.
>
>The last time carriers were used in this type of tests was at Operation
>Crossroads, at Bikini Atoll in 1946 to test the effect of atomic weapons in
>both airburst and subsurface bursts.
>
>The USS America holds a unique place in history, in that she has served in
>every conflict since Vietnam, and served with Honor and Valor, and holds a
>special place in the hearts of each and every crewmember that served aboard
>her during her long and illustrious career.
>
>One organization, the USS America Museum Foundation, led by it's President
>Mr. Lee McNulty, A former Boatswain's Mate, has worked tirelessly to attempt
>to save this outstanding ship from its undeserved fate and turn it into a
>museum and vocational training facility for the public to see just what an
>aircraft carrier is, and what it is capable of doing.
>
>"An Aircraft Carrier is Like a small city" he says, it has to sustain 5000
>people for months at a time," and have the ability to support every trade
>and occupation which exist on shore. No other ship has this particular set
>of trades, and the infrastructure to support them. The America could have
>been both a museum and a floating school to pass along the knowledge of the
>skills necessary for life to a new generation of our youth, who sadly,
>today, are often unable to gain those skills due to a lack of training
>facilities".
>
>Mr. Steve Diano, Vice-President of the USS America Museum Foundation and
>FormerCrewmember of this Great and Historic Ship, states that "Not only was
>I former Crewmember of the America, but was a part of the Commissioning
>Process/Crew and a PlankOwner. I watched her transform from a large Bare
>Flattop Carrier to a Fighting Machine, taking her on her first ever
>operation to Gitmo (The Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) to get her
>battle ready for her Lengthy Service protecting America just like her Name.
>It saddens me to see her go out this way after she served her Country
>(AMERICA) so honorably.
>
>This should have not been her fate, she could have gone on serving her
>country as a Museum/Education center which we all fought for. As a
>Signalman, the Ships Bridge was my home aboard, hoping that someday the
>bridge would become a training/learning facility as well as the entire ship.
>This is truly atragedy. We as former crewmembers will always be a part of
>the America (CVA-66) and she will never be forgotten. We stand by the ship's
>motto""Dont Tread On Me".
>
>The Preservation Officer, Mr. Greg Moore, being a former Radioman, who has
>remained associated with communications his entire life, wished to restore
>the radio rooms and communications facilities of this ship to the form they
>were in during the 1960's and early 1970's. His comment is "There aren't too
>many people today who have heard Morse Code (CW) used in communications,
>even the FCC has reduced the requirement for a General; Class Amateur
>license to 5 Words Per Minute, and a Technician Class has to know no CW
>whatsoever,, well, back in the 1960's, we worked CW at 20 to 25 WPM, and I
>personally hold a Navy Speed Key Certificate for 30 WPM, it's a neglected
>art, and one which should be preserved and perpetuated." Mr. Moore also
>wished to expose the public to the sound and feel of mechanical Teletype
>machines, formerly ubiquitous in every communications facility, and heard in
>the background of every news broadcast, but now, sadly replaced by the
>silent computer screen and the laser printer. "We have to keep the old ways
>alive, Mr. Moore states, because once lost, they never can be resurrected".
>Mr. Moore, who, collects and restores these artifacts, like many who do,
>call themselves "Greenkeyers" after the color of the keys on the machines.
>"It's a visceral thing, watching one work", he states," there are over 2000
>parts in the typing unit alone, and they all have to work perfectly". "it is
>too bad that we couldn't have saved our ship, so that the public could have
>seen communications as they were, and had the opportunity to learn the same
>skills that are just as viable today as they were back then."
>
>The USS America is scheduled to depart on her final voyage on April 19th,
>2005, At 1100 (11:00AM) from the pier at the former Philadelphia Naval Yard
>where she is now Moored. She will then be towed to a classified location,
>and the tests will be carried out, The USS America will be gone forever,
>beneath the waters she once sailed so proudly.
>
>USS AMERICA CV/CVA-66 1964-2005 R.I.P.
>
>-30-
>
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Dave Merchant
kosh@nesys.com
nesys_com@ameritech.net
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http://www.nesys.org
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