by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
There have been many times that guided missiles have been located Downtown, but those were always temporary visits when a warship flying the American or a foreign flag tied up at the Northbank Riverwalk.
Downtown landed a permanent guided missile Friday when a Tartan surface-to-air training missile was delivered to the Adams Class Ship Museum at the Landing.
It’s for display only, said John O’Neil, a retired U.S. Navy captain who’s the executive director of the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association.
The association is working to bring the guided missile destroyer USS Charles F. Adams to the Southbank to serve as a floating museum and education resource. The Tartan was deployed on the Adams and the other ships in its class. The missiles on the ship weighed 1,300 pounds, including a 130-pound high explosive warhead and a solid-fuel rocket motor that made it travel close to twice the speed of sound before destroying an enemy aircraft.
The missile at the museum is minus those two components.
While volunteers were moving the static display into place, John Fitzsimon visited the museum. He said he made sure to stop in Jacksonville on his way to a holiday vacation in South Florida.
Fitzsimon was a fire controlman in the Navy and served aboard the Adams from 1974-76. His job was to fire the ship’s Tartan missiles.
“I made sure I was stopping here to see the museum and make a donation to help bring the Adams to Jacksonville. I’m really glad I was here and got to see this,” said Fitzsimon.
To learn more about the USS Charles F. Adams and the museum, visit www.adamsclassmuseum.org.
356-2466