Currently all of these required items are being assembled for submission to NAVSEA.

In addition, a completely revised Donation Application for the new shipyard site needs to be submitted to NAVSEA 21 for their review by June 30, 2014.

IMPORTANT - DONATIONS & VOLUNTEERS

All ACVA members are urged to provide donations to our effort to bring the Adams home to Jacksonville. This year will be our last opportunity to make our many years of work reality. In addition, all ACVA veterans are requested to go to our Volunteer link on the web site and provide your skills, experience and capability to assist us with the restoration of the ship. All veterans who have changed addresses and email contact information, please submit those updates to Dave Myerly, our Secretary.

It appears that there have been a few changes in the way project news is broadcast. I can't get in touch with anyone to confirm this (which in itself is an issue), but I'll do the best I can, so here goes.

#1 - The primary source for news about the project is still the JHNSA website http://www.adamsclassmuseum.org/.

#2 - The secondary source is the project's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AdamsClassNavalShipMuseum. As far as I can tell, you can still see at least part of that page even if you are not part of Facebook.

#3 - The ACVA website http://www.adamsclassddgvets.org/ is now just a holding area for forms and whatever, I guess. I have not received an "official" update for that site in over 4 months, in spite of the fact that we have apparently received over $15,000 in donations.

#4 - This website, which I do for the Adams herself http://www.ddg-2.org, is also dependent on news coming in from ACVA/JHNSA leaders, so I haven't updated it for a while, either.

Sorry for the lack of information but that all comes from above my pay grade. ;-)

Jim Bosworth
Webmaster

A recent photo of the Adams in Philly, provided by Steve Roads. Click on the image below for a full sized version:

The following comes from Jim Aldrich, VP of the ACVA. Since I was NOT told to keep this message under wraps, here it is:

Hi fellow ACVA Board Members …



As Bob said, I was there in Jax this past Friday, and Saturday….. I thought I might offer some “eye witness” observations so you might be able to get a fuller appreciation for what is going on there.



1. The Jaxtoberfest was held from Friday 3pm-10pm, and Saturday 10 am – 11 pm. I was only there on Friday, but I would say that it was very well attended… probably several thousand folks. It was held on the Shipyards land, which is now all a nice lawn area, with the piers that we plan to use for the Adams berth on the south side of the lawn, and the Maxwell House coffee plant across the street from the lawn area to the north. The place is ideal for outdoor events, such as this, to have July 4th, Labor Day, Veterans Day, etc celebrations and other events which could definitely benefit the ADAMS Class Museum. JHNSA had a central spot, with a fenced off area covered by 3 or 4 big white tents. People had to have tickets to get into the JHNSA area, either a $125 ticket (for 5:30 PM VIP admission) , or a $50 ticket for later admission. It was catered, and very nice. The last count I saw indicated over 500 people paid to get into this JHNSA area… so JHNSA definitely made some money. There was a band early on, and a DJ later. There were lots of JHNSA fundraising activities in this area - maritime paintings and sketches from local artist, a book signing, a “50/50” raffle, a picture booth, etc. The place was packed, quite frankly… and it did not close down until 10 PM Friday night. One really impressive thing was the vast number of JHNSA volunteers working there – I’d say there were over 25 volunteers working there… selling tickets, gate-keeping so free-loaders did not get in, talking to people about the Adams museum idea, etc. I was very impressed also with the way JHNSA people were explain to “walk-ups” what JHNSA is all about, and the idea of setting up Adams as a ship museum.

2. Saturday there was a JHNSA Meeting, and once again, I was impressed with the number and the caliber of the many people that are on the JHNSA Board now… I think the JHNSA Board now has over 30 people, and many, if not all, are very enthusiastic and engaged. This is exactly what we had hoped for many years ago when we met on TeamSpeak back in the 2005, and 2006 timeframe !!

3. I also visited the Adams Class Museum store in Jacksonville Landing. Pat Stroud (Master Chief, retired) continues to make improvements, and the place is still doing well. It looks great, and thanks to Craig Bernat, there are new items in the store – radar repeaters, etc.

4. Dan Bean announced that the DIA (Downtown Investment Authority) had committed to formally support the Adams Class Museum with a formal resolution, maybe as soon as tomorrow (WED). This is important because the DIA was commissioned by the Mayor of Jax !! This is also VERY important BECAUSE several potential donors (possibly BIG donors) said they would donate IF the DIA supposed JHNSA !!

5. Dan thinks we have a real chance to get ADAMS to Jax by within a year… so he has set into motion plans to revise the DONAPP, ramp up the fundraising with key people in Jax, etc.

END OF REPORT

Now you are as "up to date" as I am.

JHNSA's tireless efforts to obtain Jacksonville City Council approval to locate the Adams Class Naval Ship Museum at the shipyard site on the north bank of the St. Johns River continue with key City decisions due to be made in August. The revised Ordinance 2013-408 to place the ex-USS Charles F. Adams DDG-2 at the solid bulkhead pier was submitted to the Council on June 11, 2013 by City Council President Bill Bishop. The ordinance would allow the ship museum to be placed there for no less than 10 years, and it has already been realized by many downtown organizations and businesses as a great positive tourist attraction for the City.

On June 25th the Public Hearing and first reading of the Ordinance was held by the City Council with JHNSA President Daniel Bean and twenty enthusiastic supporters present. More committee meetings to address the ordinance revision will be held before the final vote. At this time, new President of the City Council Bill Gulliford, Councilman Bishop and at least 8 other council members support the revision of the ordinance.

Local Jacksonville development designer and community planner Chris Flagg has worked with the JHNSA to provide design concepts for the ship museum with the graphic art work below.

Our long time supporter Mr. W.W. "Bill" Gay has obtained several supporters willing to help us guarantee almost half of the required line of credit needed to get through the first steps of bringing the Charles F. Adams to Jacksonville - ship restoration, berthing site preparation, tow of the ship, volunteer restoration/preparation of museum displays, and opening the museum for the first year of operation. Financial support and volunteers from ACVA veterans are still needed to help make the museum development a reality. The new Downtown Jacksonville site is less costly and will enable more tourist visits to help the local economy and local businesses.

Check out the ACVA website for a report from the recent DDG-2 reunion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtde8Y325Eg

The following was passed on to me by Ed Sizemore, Senior Instructor, Firearms Division, Federal Law Enforcement Training Center

I am attaching copies of the photo taken of my USCG LEDET (ironically designated LEDET 7-KILO) after our cocaine seizure during the last cruise of the CHARLES F. ADAMS to the Caribbean. It was taken in the Commodore’s Cabin which was assigned to me during this deployment. Since over twenty years have passed and I have lost track of most of my team over the years, I feel that it is safe to identify this photo as ‘LTJG Ed Sizemore and LEDET 7-K of Mayport, FL.

Next year will mark my thirty-fifth year in government service – eight years with the U.S. Navy, twelve years with the Coast Guard, and fifteen years with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center with eight more years remaining before I anticipate retiring (again). I will always look at my time aboard the ADAMS as one of the high points of my service as a LEDET Officer-in-Charge. Of all the Navy ships that I have ridden over the years, the ADAMS was a true classic among ships.