The following is all of the Adams Class Veterans Association coorespondence that I have received over the last few months. I will post more as I get it.

To All:

I am Jack Cistriano, a plank owner from the USS Semmes DDG 18. I was recently appointed to the ACVA board and will be the Ships Rep Liaison and taking over membership from Dave over the next few weeks.

This email is to introduce myself and seek your assistance in a project that we need to expand to save the Adams. As you know the Adams, Barney and Semmes were the last 3 DDG's available for possible saving of our class ship. In June the Greek Navy back out on us getting the Semmes and our organization voted to fully support ACVA in attempting to save the Adams. NAVSEA took Barney off the hold list and that left only the Adams as a possible to preserve a ship of the DDG class. Adams is only on hold until May 2005, and we don't know if that will be extended.

Therefore it needs to be full steam ahead in our efforts to save the Adams. The ACVA Board is only 8 members or so, but there are literally thousands of former Adams class crewmen out there scattered all over the country-who could help with this effort. I'm asking the ships reps to do the following ASAP to help the ACVA board.

1. Go the this web site www.bozair.com/adamsmen/DDG2.html . We would like you or your webmaster to put a notice on your web page similar to this. Since our membership is still small this would be a means of getting the word out to many DDG crewman.

2. It would be good if your association would go on record supporting ACVA's effort to save the Adams, as we of the SEMMES Association did.

3. We need your all out support in getting members of your association to join the ACVA (the bigger our membership, the better to sell the idea of saving the Adams)

I know many of your associations tried very hard to save your individual ship (including my Semmes Association), but now we are down to only Adams. We need to band together to save her or one of the finest class of ships in the US Navy will only be a memory.

So lets show the navy we DDG sailors can still get the job done and all work together to save the Adams.

I will be communicating with the Ship reps more and look forward to working with all of you

Jack

(Newsletter #3)

To All Ships Reps:

Your ACVA is busy carrying on the business of our association and the board meets monthy by chat, usually the last Monday of the month.

Of course our number one goal is to find a home for the Adams to preserve an Adams class ship. We have not been successful yet, but are continuing to contact potential museum's and cities. In the first newsletter I laid out some steps to get your ships associations more involved with the Adams Class Veterans Association. I have received some reponses from some ,but have not heard from others.

In regards to putting info on your web site about ACVA many of you have, but we would like those of you who have not done so to accomplish that task. ACVA is now a member of HSNA Historical Naval Ship Association and have the HSNA Logo and link in place on our web page and we have a click on item having the Mission, By Laws, Goals, and Executive Board. So dont forget to visit our newer web site at adamsclassddgvets.org to see the newest features.

Our association is in the final stages of completing the corporation papers and filing with the IRS for our 501(c)3 exemption. This should be done early in the new year.

Our president Tom Crosser is working on the Philly visit to visit the Adams.he is working on rooms, transportation, and eating facilities. He is working with Gloria at NavSea for possible dates. Once firm up the info will be sent out to all interested members.Tom has also gotten pictures of the Adams and a diagram of the Philly Navy Yard.

New memberships have slowed down and we need the help of your associations to get the word out about the ACVA and encourage your members to join. The stronger our membership, the easier it will be to sell the idea of saving a Adams Class Ship.

If you or any of your members are into Flight Simulation and use the Microsoft Flight simulation programs, specifically the Century of Flight Edition, you should make contact with Jim Bosworth our ACVA Web Master. Jim has done a lot of projects and he hopes to be able to duplicate all of the Adams Class ships. That means that just about any former Adams class crew member who uses flight Sim could have their Adams Class DDG sitting where they want it( all he has to do is change the number on the hull). He emphasizes that he is in the developmental stages with this. You can go to his basic scenery web page www.bozair.com/revairport.html to see his airports near the top and some of his special packages near the bottom.

We can achieve our goal of saving a Adams Class ship if we all work togeather in assisting ACVA, we need all former DDG Sailors to join in this effort.

Last but not least the ACVA board would like to wish all Adams Class Sailors and their family's a wonderful holiday season and ask everyone to make a new years resolution to do your part to save a Adams Class Ship

Jack Cistriano
Director-Membership and Liason Ships organizations

(Newsletter #4)

To All Ships Reps:

Your ACVA board is busy carrying on the business of our association and we just celebrated our first anniversary. As we review our first year, a lot has happen over the past 12 months, not the least of which was the decision of the U.S. Navy and NAVSEA to keep th former USS ADAMS DDG-2 on Donation Hold Status. The low point of the year was the sudden death of our First President, Frank Manis.

ACVA is about to produce our first newsletter and we need your help in supplying articles or information about your ships association for the newsletter. I would ask you or if you have a Public Relations Person for your association to send articles to Len Gordon This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. our Director-Public Relations & Newsletter. We want to share your news with all 23 ships associations.

Our membership has been growing steadily but we need your continued assistance with increasing our numbers. As we home in on a home for the Adams the larger our membership the better our chances will be. If every current member could find one new member we could double our membership overnight. We still need a Ship's Rep for the USS Richard E. Byrd DDG-23. If any of you know any former sailor's from that ship please contact them or send me a name and I will contact them.

Speaking of a home for the ADAMS we have a city that we think is a viable candidate and will be working with them closely over the next few months. Hopefully by my next newsletter I can announce that city and the progress we have made.

Since my last newsletter more ships have put info about ACVA on their web sites, but we still don't have all. If your ship has not done so yet please add your ship to the list. This is a good way to get info our about our association and build up our membership.If you have not visited the ACVA web sit lately I encourage you to do so. Our Web Master Jim Bosworth is constantly updating it. www.adamsclassddgvets.org/

The board is looking at several fund raising projects to raise funds for our association. If you have any good ideas or have experienced successful activities please forward your ideas to David Simpson our Director of Fundraising at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Did you make your New Year's resolution to help save a Adams Class Ship. Remember we need all former Adam's Class Sailors working with us to make this dream come true. Lets make 2005 the year of the ADAMS CLASS NAVY and find a home for the ADAMS.

Jack Cistriano
Director-Membership and Liason Ship's Organizations

(Newsletter #5)

To : All Ships Reps

Number 5 was a little late as I have been away most of March at NJCAA and NCAA basketball tournaments. Hope your NCAA pool did better than mine, although this was a basketball fans dream year.

Your ACVA board had it's monthly board chat and continues to carry on the business of our association. Thanks goes out to those ship reps who contributed to the ACVA newsletter, it should be going out in the next few weeks.

At this time we need your assistance in another project that ACVA is taking on. Our Vice President Rick Watson is taking on a History of Adams Class Ships Project.The board has put this project on hold, but we would still like to identify a person from each ships association who could be a contact to help with this project so as not to lose valuable time when we start it up in the near future. You can contact me or Rick at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A special thanks to Captain Jim Alridge a member of the Sellers crew who has taken on the leadership in finding a home for the Adams. Jim and Rear Admiral Collins have been meeting with city officials in Tampa and will be meeting with the Port Authority this week.If you have any members in the Tampa area who could help with this effort, please have them contact Jim at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . I'm sure he could use some help with a number of leg work task as he and the Admiral continue their effort to get a home for the ADAMS.

Our president Tom Crosser is working on a date for the Adams survey visit and currently has 42 adams class sailors who have agreed to attend that project in Philadelphia. The group has a good cross section across all rates needed to do this project and we thank those Adams Class Sailors who have voluntered to participate.

The articles of incorporation draft copy have been sent to all board members for review and the board voted to accept them and file them. The next step is to file with the IRS for the 501C exemption. A special thanks to Herm Chambers who has the lead in this difficult process.

As of 3/23/05 we now have 127 offfical members, but we need to keep the pressure up to increase our membership. Their will be an article in the TIN CAN SAILORS in April and this should get the word out to more people. You ships reps though are our best bet, and we need your assistance in getting more of your association members interested in joining ACVA. If you have any ideas on how we can improve our efforts to build our membership please forward your ideas to me.

In regards to the monthly board meetings I would like to encourage all Ships Reps to send me discussion items. As the board proceeds with it's business we need to be sure we are addressing any concerns or points of interest of our membership. While we may think we know your interest we don't want to miss any important matters to our members.

Once again I would encourage all of you and your members to visit the ACVA web site www.adamsclassddgvets.org on a regular basis. There is continual new information and the ACVA forum is a good place to be involved in our association.

We seem to be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, but we still have a long way to go to save the ADAMS. We still need all of us working together in assisting the ACVA board in moving forward with this difficult task. You have heard me say before that DDG Sailors have always been known for their can do attitude. So lets all continue to work togeather and save the ADAMS.

Jack Cistriano
Director- Membership and Liason Ship Organizations