THE MISSION| TheToughTender.com



On this date, 01 May 2021, the SHENANDOAH’s new presence on the Internet is officially commissioned: “TheToughTender.com.”


Official Commissioning ~ 15 August 1983

 

The USS Shenandoah (AD 44) “Internet Deck” has been created to provide a beacon for her “Always Dynamite” crew members from Precommissioning to Decommissioning, and a hallmark celebration for the citizens of the Shenandoah Valley, Shenandoah National Park, and members of the Navy League who adopted the ship and crew.

SHENANDOAH’s first Commanding Officer coined the phrase “Tough Tender” in closing one of his early addresses. He continued to refer to SHENANDOAH by her nickname in his many addresses and remarks that followed; including his Change of Command Remarks. SHENANDOAH’s new website address is named accordingly.


Bumper Sticker

The combined text and imagery thus far have come from the ship’s Commissioning book, First Year Cruise book, 1st Change of Command book, Change of Command C.O.’s Remarks, Decommissioning book, hundreds of crew photos shared and collected over a period of nearly two decades and several home-videos. SHENANDOAH’s succeeding cruise books, booklets, photos, videos, press, and other documents will be scanned and added to her on-line history in the future.




Above decks the site’s Header has been outfitted with a menu of the ship’s heritage and history for ship, crew, the Shenandoah Valley and Shenandoah National Park for which she was named, and other honored guests.

Below decks the site’s Footer has been outfitted with crew access to the secure Extranet’s Quarterdeck, Main Deck, Ship’s Logs, and more.  The main deck ladder is also in place, and will eventually allow the crew to move easily and quickly about the entire ship.

All SHENANDOAH crew and honored guests are invited to sign the “Tough Tender’s” Guestbook and share your favorite memories of ship and crew.

The task of documenting all of SHENANDOAH’s history into an enterprise-level web application is more than a few shipmates are capable. In lieu of the first official crew website’s decommissioning on or around 24 January 2012, HT2 Troy M. Wussow (Plankowner), Web Architect and Partner with Heartland Web Co, LLC., and Captain Thomas M. McNicholas, Jr., first Commanding Officer of USS Shenandoah (AD 44), began collaborating on building a new official crew website. Keel laying of the new site started in early March, 2021. 

However, in order to bring the site to full fruition, the contributing efforts of all hands is necessary. If you have any images, documents, stories or other contributions, please don’t hesitate to step forward. The Ship’s Log and COMM system below decks has file-upload capabilities to assist in accepting contributions.

Please contact your shipmates that are not utilizing social media platforms!
Text them, eMail them, call them or drive to their home if necessary to pass the word along that SHENANDOAH has a new home on the Internet.




Special Request Chits


Your suggestions are always welcome. If you would like to submit a Special Request Chit, please use the button below:


Complete the form, eMail it to the Yeoman, and we’ll see what can be done.

 




ToughTender.Tripod.com


Ann Marie Ponder — one of the ship’s first Illustrators — created the first toughtender.tripod website to honor the USS Shenandoah (AD 44), share wonderful memories, post Navy honors, photos, lists, and was also an extraordinary asset in helping the crew to reconnect.

The first website contained a link to a well-established shipmate-finder site. Ann Marie also provided her personal eMail address and became a Comm-Officer herself, by maintaining a roster of ship’s company within an Excel spreadsheet, and forwarding contact information between lost shipmates. This website has been built to carry the torch she began back in 2001.



Below is a web porthole to the Internet Archives where Ann Marie Ponder’s first official SHENANDOAH crew website still exists. It will allow you to visit and interact with the old site, however it is fragmented. If the porthole is redirected to a dead or inoperable link, click refresh on your browser’s menu to reset the page.

 



Click on this link if you are using a mobile device: ToughTender.Tripod



Please feel free to contact the Yeoman if you have any problems accessing the site, or would like to volunteer as an admin to assist with site development, testing, and/or maintenance.