The latest news in the saga to save the Adams and it is GOOD NEWS!

GREAT NEWS for all ACVA Members, and everyone who has supported our effort to
berth the USS CHARLES F. ADAMS DDG-2 on the St. Johns River in downtown Jacksonville, Florida

The SHIP DONATION APPLICATION has been completed !!! We have met the deadline
for completion of the Application beyond all expectation and overcoming numerous obstacles, the most critical one being TIME!! Our Application Team put together in
75 days what normal ship organizations take up to two years to do.

Thanks to the efforts of Pete Mansel, Bob Branco, Jim Aldrich, Bob Rumney, Bert
Watson, Wayne Misenar, Craig Bernat, and Tom Crosser, the 3-Volume document,
with 826 pages, was completed on March 28th. These men spent countless hours,
a few literally into the hundreds of hours, most days, and every week writing the
many sections of the Application. The Team was very pleased with the final product,
and felt it did justice to the wonderful ships we seek to honor. Bert Watson will personally deliver the document to NAVSEA at the Washington Navy Yard on the
afternoon of March 31st. Since the application is being evaluated by the Navy, the document is considered confidential.

Update From This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. dated 04/25/08:
(Dave Myerly)

"BOARD MEMBER CHANGES
Tom Crosser, who has been President of ACVA since the passing of our original President Frank Manis in 2004, stepped down in an April 16 ACVA Board meeting after the Donation Application was completed. Tom will continue serving on the Board as Director of the Volunteer Program that he helped to develop for the Donation Application. We are indebted to Tom for his efforts over these past years as President to make USS CHARLES F. ADAMS (DDG-2) as a ship museum. Later, the Board voted and approved Bob Branco, the current ACVA Vice President, to succeed Crosser as President. In addition, Craig Bernat, the ACVA’s Director of Public Relations and Fundraising was elected to relieve Pete Mansel as the ACVA Treasurer. Pete’s efforts to organize the Donation Application and prepare the Business Plan for the Application were invaluable to that huge 828 page effort.

MAJOR CONTRIBUTION
Recently the ACVA received a major contribution of $2.500 from DRS Technologies, a defense contractor with headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey. Not only did the company make the generous donation, but they also offered to assist ACVA with the restoration of the MK 68 gun fire control system onboard ex-USS CHARLES F. ADAMS (DDG-2).

MAJOR SUPPORTERS
Now on the web site is a new Major Supporters link that displays an updated list of corporations and sponsors who made major donations to support our Donation Application effort. This link replaces the former Corporate Backers link."

To all,
The effort to get the ship donated continues, The biggest obstacle is the raising of money to complete the payments for items in the application that could not be donated. If you have any loose change please send it along ,it all counts. If you know of any corporate sponsors who might find such an effort something that they would donate to, please ask. Any of you out there who work or worked for companies that built,supplied equipment or repaired these fine ships, please ask.I personally will be sending in a donation of $150.00
Thanks to all of you who have taken an interest in this project, we will triumph in the end! I have entered the latest news below:



This is an update on the status of our Donation Application submission to NAVSEA PMS-333 for the berthing of the ex-USS CHARLES F. ADAMS (DDG-2) in Jacksonville, FL. In preparing the Application, the eight core ACVA team members expended over
2100 hours of in-kind work in three months to complete the 826 pages of the 3-Volume Application. Thanks to the efforts of Pete Mansel, Jim Aldrich, Bob Rumney, Bert
Watson, Wayne Misenar, Craig Bernat, and Tom Crosser, the Application was
completed on March 28. The Application was submitted to NAVSEA on March 31
by the joint team of ACVA and our "sister" organization, the Jacksonville Historic
Naval Ship Association (JHNSA). A summary of our Application is currently available
on the ACVA web site, www.adamsclassddgvets.org/.

We have expended the majority of donated support from ACVA members and
Ship Associations to pay for the marketing and engineering services required to
prepare the Donation Application. We still need additional financial support to
complete payment for a portion of the berthing design work that was done in support
of the Application. We ask all DDG-2 Ship Associations to encourage their members
to join the ACVA in its effort to save CHARLES F. ADAMS, the surviving ship of the
class. When you look at the summary of the Donation Application that is now posted
on our web site, it is obvious that the whole focus of the ADAMS class museum in Jacksonville will be to memorialize all 23 ships of the class. Planning for local fund
raising events in the Jacksonville area is in progress. We have received several
corporate donations and we are contacting other potential corporate sponsors.
But to continue our efforts to get the Ship Donation Application approved by the
Navy and to begin planning for the restoration effort, the continued support of DDG-2
class veterans will be essential in the short term. Since the beginning of 2008, we
have had 150 new members and over 125 new ACVA Plank Owner Donors join
ACVA. We would appreciate your help in raising the additional funds we require,
and especially in locating more of our shipmates who can join the ACVA and help
us in this important effort. New ACVA members and donors can follow instructions
on the ACVA web site for credit card or mail submissions to ACVA Secretary
Dave Myerly for membership or donations.

Thanks to all for your continued support
Bob Branco
ACVA President.

This is the latest from the Adams group and it concerns a possible reunion in Jacksonville, FL
I will also post as a new topic.
Gentlemen,

My name is Harold "Mat" Matroni MMC (SW) Ret., ships rep for the USS John King DDG-3. I recently sent an email out concerning thoughts for an ALL DDG CLASS REUNION/CONVENTION to be held in JAX as a kick-off for the DDG-2 museum. (A review of ship rep addresses had 4 updated emails, so a copy of the original email is attached below.)

This email was responded to by Bill Huntman and Bert Watson, both with favorable comments and interest. Bert followed his email with a direct phone call to me, and a lenghty discussion was had about the feasability of a gathering like this. Thoughts from the original message were clarified and tossed back and forth, with the final thought that this would be a great way to show our support for the city of Jacksonville and the museum. The one question remaining is - do we have the support of the other DDG groups to make this a reality?

With that question in mind, Bert has asked me to be the contact man in finding out the interest each individual DDG group has in attending a gathering like this.

Please share this email with your crews and ask them to reply to you with a simple yea or nay. Once you have a majority response from your crew, please relay that information to me as your ships support answer with a number that would be interested in attending. When I hear from all the ships reps I will send another message letting everyone know what the general feeling is.

Thanks for you time and assistance. I look forward to hearing from all of you soon.

Regards,
Harold "Mat" Matroni
MMC (SW) Ret.
' 73 - ' 76
DDG-3 Ships Representative

Shipmates,
this is for any of you who are within striking distance of Jacksonville, FL


To All Ship Reps,

If you have any crew members that reside in Florida or close to the JAX area please let them know about the upcoming October Navy Weekend. We need to have your ship represented, if not by you or your elected officers than by any of your crew that can show up wearing their ships hat.

Details to follow. Direct anyone interested to contact me direct at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you for the help and support of the JACKSONVILLE HISTORIC NAVAL SHIP ASSOCIATION. Your assistance is truely appreciated.

Shipmates, To any of you who are within striking distance of JAX.

To All Ship Reps,

If you have any crew members that reside in Florida or close to the JAX area please let them know about the upcoming October Navy Weekend. We need to have your ship represented, if not by you or your elected officers than by any of your crew that can show up wearing their ships hat.

Details to follow. Direct anyone interested to contact me direct at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Thank you for the help and support of the JACKSONVILLE HISTORIC NAVAL SHIP ASSOCIATION. Your assistance is truely appreciated.