An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows the “USS Al Gore Global Warming Research Vessel” covered in ice.

Verdict: False

There is no record of such a vessel. The photo has been linked to a 2005 ice storm in Switzerland.

Fact Check:

The image, which has been shared over 14,000 times, shows an ice-encrusted boat sitting in what appears to be a harbor. The text inside the image reads, “Now, this is funny, I don’t care who you are: USS Al Gore Global Warming Research Vessel.”

Gore, a climate change activist, served as vice president from 1993 to 2001 and put out the award-winning global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” in 2006. Social media users seem to be attempting to poke fun at the alleged “USS Al Gore Global Warming Research Vessel” being covered in ice.

While Check Your Fact was unable to track down the real name of the ship, there is no evidence it is a “global warming research vessel” bearing Gore’s name. The only media reports that could be found about a “USS Al Gore Global Warming Research Vessel” were those debunking it. “USS” is a prefix used to identify U.S. Navy ships. The National Archives’ catalogue of Navy ships does not have any record of a commissioned vessel by that name, nor does the Navy’s index of “Hulls Listed By Name.”

“No, we don’t have a ship by that name,” Stephanie Ann Homick Turo, a Navy spokesperson, confirmed in an email to Check Your Fact. (RELATED: Did The Washington Times Run A ‘President Gore’ Headline After The 2000 Presidential Election?)

Reverse image searches show the picture of the ice-encrusted boat has been shared on the internet since at least 2008. In several instances, the picture is connected to a 2005 storm on Switzerland’s Lake Geneva that left the area covered in ice.

Gore’s website did not return a request for comment by the time of publication.