WEBSITE CHRONICLES USS NEW HAMPSHIRE
PORTSMOUTH, NH, July 14, 2008 - A new web site designed by a local marketing firm will enable New Hampshire residents to follow "their" submarine -- the Navy's newest attack sub, the USS New Hampshire (SSN-778)- from its recent christening on June 21st to its commissioning at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on October 25th.
The USSNewHampshire.org web site was designed by Harbour Light Strategic Marketing and powered by Savvy Software on behalf of the Community Commissioning Committee. Tidal Media is hosting the site. The web site functions first and foremost as an informational resource on the Commissioning and local activities planned to celebrate the October event. The site alos offers an online storefront for commissioning memorabilia and event sponsorship details.
The USS New Hampshire, a 337-foot, 7,800-ton Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, is the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Granite State, thanks largely to a letter writing campaign by Dover, NH, third graders. The Secretary of the Navy selected Portsmouth over two other competing sites for the commissioning ceremony. "Not only is it logical that the Navy's gold standard 'New Hampshire' shipyard have the honor - but it is thanks to Dover school children that this submarine - the 5th in the Navy's new Virginia Class Submarine fleet - is the new Navy ship to bear the 'New Hampshire' name," according to the Commissioning Committee.
The Commissioning ceremony is a high-profile, tradition-laden event for the Navy. It will attract senior Navy officers, Congressional representatives, the Governor, special invited guests and thousands of visitors including the crew's families.
Harbour Light and Savvy Software donated services for the new site due to the historic relevance and importance of the commissioning event for the Seacoast community. "It's one of the ways we can give back to the community," said Harbour Light Creative Director Ned Savoie. "The ease of implementation using Savvy combined with our design skills makes a fast deployment possible." The firms were able to complete the web site in less than a week using Savvy Content Manager (CM) software, an award-winning web content management system (CMS) that is fast, affordable and easy to use. Savvy CM will enable Commissioning Committee members to easily manage the ongoing updates and content creation to the web site themselves, without needing the expertise of a professional webmaster.
"I encouraged the USS New Hampshire Community Commissioning Committee to choose Harbourlight Productions for the creation of our website because of my past experience with the team in designing the Portsmouth Peace Treaty site as well as my own site," said Stephanie Seacord, Commissioning Committee Information Director and principal of Leading Edge Marketing. "The team is fantastically creative and impressively efficient; and the Savvy Tools that are the backbone of their sites are incredibly easy for someone like me, who is not a web designer, to use. Josh, Bill and Robert have once again delivered a gold standard product. On top of all that they are helping with this site as a pro bono commitment to the community."
About Harbour Light Strategic Marketing
Harbour Light Strategic Marketing is an award-winning creative design agency located in Portsmouth, NH. Since 1995, we've specialized in creating engaging marketing tools, successful brands, productive websites, unique advertising campaigns and other implements of success for companies around the block and around the country.
About Savvy Software
Savvy Software is a privately held corporation based in Portsmouth, NH. The idea for Savvy Content Manager grew out of work developing database driven web sites for clients that wanted the ability to update their own web sites without having to use HTML, FTP or any other technologies used in web development. Its award winning Savvy Content Manager is used by more than 500 organizations worldwide. The company was founded in 2001.
Events
10/19 USS New Hampshire arrived in Portsmouth 11:15 am
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Thru 11/2 Scarecrows of the Port Festival
Downtown merchants present first annual "Scarecrows in the Port" harvest festival, commissioning celebration and welcome to the crew and their families.
10/25/2008 US Navy Commissioning Ceremony, 10 am
10/27/2008 USS New Hampshire departs, 12:20 pm