MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE HAPPEN
Captain James H. Aldrich, Jr., USN (Retired),
Vice President, ADAMS Class Veterans Association, Inc.
In the early months of 2007, the life of the 46-year-old ex-USS CHARLES F. ADAMS (DDG-2) seemed to be coming to an inauspicious end. This “lead ship” of the ADAMS class of guided missile destroyers was built at the Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine, and then commissioned in September 1960 as the first US Navy warship built from the keel up as a “missile ship”. In 2007, the USS CHARLES F. ADAMS, after serving 30 years of active service and being decommissioned, was berthed at the Inactive Ship Facility in Philadelphia, PA and she was very close to being scrapped. In the late 1990’s, it seemed the ADAMS was going to find a home in Saginaw, Michigan. That did not happen. Then the ADAMS Class Veterans Association (ACVA) was formed, whose primary purpose is to find a home for the ship as a Naval Ship Museum, and they came close to finding a berth for the ship in Tampa Bay, Florida. But again, events caused the ship to lose local sponsorship.
In order to pursue one last opportunity to find a berth for ADAMS, the ACVA petitioned the Navy for an extension of the Ship Donation Application period. In April 2007, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Mullen, USN, authorized the requested extension, but said a Ship Donation Application must be submitted no later than March 31, 2008.
USS CHARLES F. ADAMS (DDG-2) – as she looked in active service
Having been granted the Ship Donation Application extension, the energized ACVA leadership first conducted a material condition survey of the ship in Philadelphia in May 2007 using 15 former crewmembers (including two former ADAMS class Commanding Officers) and a marine engineer. The survey was conducted in order to have a clear and realistic understanding of the material condition of the ship, and thus the costs that would be required to establish her as a Naval Ship Museum. Immediately after the material condition survey was completed, ACVA began the campaign to locate the ADAMS as a Naval Ship Museum in Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville seemed the “logical” location to become the “final berth” for ADAMS; ADAMS had been homeported in nearby Mayport of 23 of her 30 years of service. In addition, the warm climate and tourist traffic in the downtown area would help ensure the Museum would be financially successful. Former crewmember Wayne Misener and lobbyist Bert Watson led the Jacksonville effort. Within months, these two Navy veterans had gained support for the ADAMS berthing from major business interests, various downtown hotels, several civic groups, and the Jacksonville Waterways Commission. In addition, the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association (JHNSA) had been formed by Watson and Misenar to become the ultimate “owner and operator” of the ADAMS Class Naval Ship Museum.
The local efforts in Jacksonville to berth the ADAMS reached a major milestone when Bert Watson and Wayne Misenar obtained strong City Council support for a Resolution supporting the location of the USS CHARLES F. ADAMS as a Naval Ship Museum on the St. Johns River next to the Acosta Bridge in downtown Jacksonville. On February 26, 2008, the City Council unanimously passed an amendment to the Resolution that listed the entire Council as co-sponsoring the Resolution – and then quickly voted to pass the Resolution without dissent. Jacksonville Mayor Peyton then signed this Resolution.
The next step for the group was to complete the required Ship Donation Application by the Navy’s deadline. The ACVA Donation Application Team of Pete Mansel, Bob Branco, Jim Aldrich, Bob Rumney, Bert Watson, Wayne Misenar, Craig Bernat, and Tom Crosser, put in over 2100 hours of work to complete the 3-Volume document, comprised of 826 pages, on March 28th. Professional firms as required by the Navy completed the Marketing Survey and Mooring Berth design work. On March 31, 2008 the ACVA and JHNSA delivered the completed Ship Donation Application on time to the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA PMS-333). The ACVA and JHNSA are now awaiting any questions that the Navy may wish to resolve as part of the process of donating the ship.
Once the Navy approves the Ship Donation Application, the USS CHARLES F. ADAMS, the last surviving ship of the US Navy’s 23 ship class, will be towed to dry dock for refurbishment. The berth will be constructed during that same time. After refurbishment, the ADAMS will become the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Museum, memorializing all of the ships of the class that served so honorably in the Cold War, many ‘crisis situations”, and in Vietnam. In addition, the ADAMS will serve as a Memorial to all US military veterans, especially US Navy veterans, who have served our country so proudly and who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms we possess.
The last month has been quite busy for the two non-profit groups spear-heading this Naval Ship Museum project, the Adams Class Veterans Association and the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association. After submitting their Ship Donation Application to the Navy's office responsible for ship donations (NAVSEA PMS 333) at the end of March, they are now in receipt of questions from the Navy regarding their Application. NAVSEA PMS 333 provided a total of twenty-four questions and comments related to different portions of the Donation Application. This is a "normal" part of the ship donation process. ACVA and JHNSA met with NAVSEA PMS 333 on August 29th to discuss these questions that will require responses by January 30, 2009. The ACVA and JHNSA representatives at that meeting were Bob Branco, Jim Aldrich, Bert Watson, and Pete Mansel; they all felt that the meeting with the Navy was most successful. ACVA and JHNSA will now finalize their responses with the team of veterans who prepared the original Application at the beginning of 2008. The group sees no major problems in answering the Navy's questions, and moving forward with the Donation process. Fund raising plans are underway, along with work to obtain corporate sponsorships and "contributions in kind" from interested businesses.
ACVA and JHNSA were very gratified recently when the project received the endorsement of the Navy’s top admiral, Admiral Gary Roughead, the Chief of Naval Operations. The Admiral was the guest speaker at the Navy League’s Midway memorial dinner in Jacksonville on June 7, 2008. At that dinner Admiral Roughead met ACVA Vice President Jim Aldrich and JHNSA President Bert Watson and they had a brief discussion regarding the project for a Naval Ship Museum utilizing the former USS CHARLES F ADAMS in Jacksonville. Since that dinner, the groups have received the following statement of support from the CNO:
“The ADAMS Class Veterans Association and the Jacksonville Historic
Naval Ship Association are truly undertaking a worthwhile cause. The
CHARLES F. ADAMS Museum will represent all of the DDGs of this
historic class of destroyers. The Museum will be a fitting and dynamic
tribute to the many Navy veterans who served on these great ships.”
G. Roughead
(L-R) : Jim Aldrich, CNO, Bert Watson
Some of the more well known of the ADAMS class Commanding Officers include the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, who commanded USS GOLDSBOROUGH (DDG-20). Another Commanding Officer, retired Navy Captain Pete Deutermann, made his debut as a suspense novelist writing about USS GOLDSBOROUGH in his first book, Scorpion in the Sea. Since writing that book, P.T. Deutermann, former Executive Officer of USS CHARLES F. ADAMS (DDG-2) and Commanding Officer of USS TATTNALL (DDG-19), both homeported in Mayport near Jacksonville, has published eleven more suspense novels from St. Martins Press.
The Museum displays and exhibits will feature information about the ADAMS class ships, and highlight the fact that the ADAMS class guided missile destroyers were the “first missile ships” in the US Navy, thus heralding the “new age of high-tech Naval warfare” that our Navy employs today. Visitors will be able to view photos taken during various at-sea operations, as well as historic videos of the ADAMS class ships that were taken during the Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and other crisis operations. Training films from Navy archives will be used to show “Navy life” aboard Navy ships of this era. Visitors will take “Life Underway” audio tours, and hear oral histories of the service rendered by the ADAMS class ships provided by the veterans themselves, from the Commanding Officers to the seamen.
One of the unique highlights of the ship museum will be reenactments of actual events experienced on ADAMS class ships during deployed ship operations. These reenactments will be displayed in the Combat Information Center, and other key locations such as the Sonar Room. One example of these real life events will be an encounter between the USS CHARLES F. ADAMS and two Iranian F-4 aircraft while ADAMS was escorting a commercial tanker through the Straits of Hormuz in 1985 during the Iran-Iraq War.
One of the main goals of the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association will be to educate and excite local youth. The JHNSA has the keen interest and support of the local Boy Scouts, Duval County Public Schools, Sea Cadets, Jacksonville University NROTC, and local high school JNROTC units. Educational programs will be part of the ADAMS experience for local young people. “Camp Aboard” programs allowing youths to spend a night, or weekend, aboard the ship will be a key facet of the JHNSA.
The ACVA is currently conducting fund raising activities to support the restoration of the ship, construction of the berth, and other required activities to establish the USS CHARLES F. ADAMS as a Naval Ship Museum in Jacksonville. For more information on this endeavor, visit the ACVA web site at http://www.adamsclassddgvets.org/. The web site contains a wealth of details on the ACVA / JHNSA effort, including a Summary of the Ship Donation Application. And if you are interested in participating in this important project, contact ACVA President Bob Branco or JHNSA President Bert Watson through the ACVA web site.
