Talk:USS Ted Stevens
 | This article is rated Stub-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
Keel Laying Discrepancy
editThere is a discrepancy between keel laying dates.
The Naval Vessel Register lists the keel laying date of Ted Stevens as 28 June 2021. On 10 March 2022, numerous articles began to appear citing the keel was ceremonially authenticated on 9 March, including this one from Naval Sea Systems Command.[1]. Based on these articles, the date has been changed in the article and on the Burke class page.
On 13 July 2021, the Huntington Ingalls Facebook page shared images of lifting the keel into place. [2] (requires account to view direct link).
On 12 January 2022, the Huntington Ingalls twitter account posted a tweet showing major sections of the ship being assembled, noting the structure was more than 50% complete. [3]
Based on this, it appears the keel was actually laid in June 2021, but not ceremonially laid or authenticated until March 2022. However, besides the Naval Vessel Register, I have found no other source explicitly stating a keel laying date in June 2021 or noting a delay in authenticating the keel (besides the photographs that show a ship has progressed past module assembly and the traditional keel laying date).
Under normal conditions, I would side with the Naval Vessel Register and the actual keel laying date rather than a ceremonial date, which has often been delayed (for example, USS Kansas City was administratively commissioned on 20 June 2020, but the commissioning ceremony was not held until 17 December 2021). However, I feel this is too close to the personal research rule to include in the article proper, so I will simply note the discrepancy and wait for a consensus on which should be used.