Kamala Harris reveals desk fit for a president made from reclaimed WARSHIPS – including one that sank in Pearl Harbor
KAMALA Harris runs a tight ship as Vice President – and has been gifted her very own replica of the Resolute desk made out of materials from historic U.S warships in her honor.
The Navy Seabees fashioned her a replica of the historical lectern to take pride of place in her office in the West Wing of the White House, using authentic artifacts from some of the most memorable boats in the country’s past.
It was assembled using wood, copper, and nails sourced from the USS Constitution – the enviable vessel created under George Washington in 1794.
The desk also sports carvings of an eagle surrounded by stars, inspired by and taken from the Constitution’s stern decorations.
As the world’s oldest commissioned naval vessels to remain afloat, including a slice of the USS Constitution was only appropriate for Harris, who made history as the first female and woman of color in the White House.
The frigate was launched in Boston, Massachusetts in 1797, and now sits in Baltimore Harbour.
Harris’ distinctive new desk, built by the United States Naval Construction Battalions, also includes a piece of the USS Arizona in the pen tray.
The superdreadnought battleship was sunk at Pearl Harbour in 1941 by Japanese torpedo bombers, and its wreckage still remains on the seabed in Hawaii.
The impressive idea to include unbelievable relics of US history in the interior of her quarters of the Oval Office was the brainchild of Donald Trump’s Navy Secretary, Kenneth Braithwaite.
Construction began on January 4 after it was given the seal of approval by former President Trump, according to the Military Times.
A desk was also built by the Seabees for the Navy secretary, which is currently Thomas Harker, who took over on the day of Joe Biden’s inauguration, on January 20, 2021.
They again utilized indelible materials from the USS Constitution, the Chesapeake, the Sloop-of-War Constellation, and the battleships Arizona, New Jersey and Texas.
The desks were constructed in a workshop at the Navy Yard’s National Museum in Washington D.C. and took around seven weeks to build.
One ecstatic team member, Builder 1st Class Hilary Lemelin, who is assigned to the USS Constitution, said: “It’s a huge opportunity to be a part of.”
“It’s amazing to create a desk for someone who makes such large decisions for the country and Navy knowing they’ll sit there every day is huge.
“The importance of their job can affect everything we do. It’s a piece of history now.”
The “heritage desks” are property of the Navy and will remain available for succeeding Vice Presidents and Navy secretaries.
Despite it being former Naval secretary Braithwaite’s bright idea to create the extraordinary workspaces, it was not complete before his departure from his position in January this year.
However, he did manage to see it before it was shipped off to the Pentagon during a visit to the Washington Navy Yard.
Inside both desks is a pen tray which includes a note written by Braithwaite and a piece of the amazing USS Arizona.
The structure of the Seabees masterpiece closely resembles the renowned Resolute desk that the President of the United States resides at.
The 1,300-pound desk, created by William Evenden at Chatham Dockyard in Kent, was an extravagant gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford Hayes in 1880.
Showing the Seabees following in the commemorated footsteps of those before them, as the Resolute was built using the oak timbers of the British Artic exploration ship, the HMS Resolute.
The vessel was abandoned in the Artic in 1854 before it was found by a US whaling ship just a year later.
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The branch of the U.S. Naval Construction Force have no further plans to design or produce any more desks.
It is not their first dabble in the world of desks, as they have previously made two others, the Military Times reports.
One is made from flight-deck planking taken from the Essex aircraft carrier that now sits in the office of the Chief or Naval Operations, while another draftsman-style desk uses planking parts from the submarine Nautilus and resides in the office of Naval reactors.