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History of
our web site
In June 1996, Chuck
Zendner made a web site showing the Radio Controlled model he
made of the USS Newport News.
http://www.zendner.com/boats/npn.htm. At that time, there
were almost no web pages on the topic of the USS Newport News on
the Internet. So anyone looking for information (Search engines)
on our ship would bring up the web pages for this model of our
ship. Shipmates would email Chuck saying, "Hey, I served on that
ship too". Chuck started collecting email address and name of
former shipmates.
In early 1997,
we started a mailing list and began visiting with each other by
email as a group. The mailing list grew at a very fast rate and in June of 1997, we decided to make a web page
dedicated to our ship.
These shipmates on this
mailing list collected up old pictures of the
ship, history information and put the web page out on to the Internet. Other
shipmates found the web site and sent their names in to be added to the crew’s list
and email list.
They also sent more historical information, more ideas for the web site and more pictures.
February 8, 2011. After a few months of conversion work, the USS Newport News web site
moves to a new server with more space and advanced features. Gary W. Palmer is called forward to take over as Web Master for
the site. We all thank Chuck Zendner for his 13 years of service as Web Master. Because of him and others, we keep the memories
of the USS Newport News alive.
Bravo Zulu Chuck!
Today, the USS NEWPORT NEWS
Web Site is the largest
web site on the Internet dedicated to a specific ship. It has also won more
Internet Site Awards than any "Navy Related" web site on the
Internet. (See our awards page at
http://www.uss-newport-news.com/award/ )
With features like Reunion
information, an extensive history of the ship, a ton of pictures of both the ship and
crew, A mailing list with over 1,400 former crew members to keep in touch with
their shipmates, A chat
room for real time visiting, A memorial page for
crew members who gave their lives while serving on the USS Newport News, Home Movies of life
aboard your ship and sound files of the USS Newport News in
Battle. Plus a ship's store stocked with all the goodies an old sailor wants for
Christmas.
The success (and fun) of this web site is because a
lot of people dedicating their time, energy, ideas and money into the project. If you
would like to become a participating member of this web page, take a look below at how you
can help.
How
you get involved as an active member of our web site.
Help Wanted
Webmasters
Needed!
We
are always looking for new webmasters to add their talent and time to our web site. Those of
us who maintain this web site have a lot of fun together and receive much enjoyment from our
web creations and from working with the other NN Webmasters. If you
would like to become a Webmaster for the USS NEWPORT NEWS WEB SITE, Please let
us know. Send email
to
Gary Palmer.
No one person
makes decisions about the growth and direction of the USS NN
Website. All decisions are made by the USS NN Webmaster group.
This includes subjects of cost and how the donations made by our
shipmates will be spent.
Financial
Help
Our web site resides on a "Web
Hosting Service" which provides us 1.5 Giga Bytes of disk space
to support our almost 300 web pages on our web site.
Our Internet server is connected to the Internet with a very
fast server with a Multiple OC~3 (155 megabit/second)
Connection. We have unlimited POP Mailing accounts and a lot of
other features not offered by a normal Web Hosting Company.
In the past, whenever the USS NN Webmasters had to make a decision on whether to
save money, or to go ahead and spend the money for a first class
Internet Service, we have always voted towards making everything about our web
site professional quality. We are able to provide top quality Internet servers
and performance because of your donations made to our web site.
Each time we have
ran out of disk space for our web site because of it's growth,
the USS NN webmaster group needed to decide to either start
deleting web pages, pictures, movie files, sound files and other
features, or to go ahead and spend the extra money for more disk
space. Because of your generous donations, we have never been
required to delete any web pages or features. We have been able to
expand the web site to meet the yearly growth of web pages and
features.
We moved to our present web hosting
service on February 8, 2011. The cost for hosting the USS Newport News Web site is
$4.50 a month. The reason it's so inexpensive is we received a really
good deal by buying 3 years of service for $162.00 ($54 per year). This is a real savings
considering our previous service cost of $50.00 per month or $600.00 per year.
Any of you who wish to
donate financial support of this web can send your checks to
Gary W. Palmer
608 E. Muriel Drive
Phoenix, AZ 85032
Or if you have questions you can email me at
Gary
Palmer.
I have provided an "Income and
Expense" summary that shows donations, expenses, and current balance to avoid too
much cash flow coming in. We just need to make the monthly payments, we don't need profit
or a savings account. Don't sell the family silver to get a donation together! We are not
desperate, just looking for a little help.
Thanks, Gary W. Palmer,
USS Newport News Web Site Administrator
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