The USS Charles F. Adams was Intended as a follow-on to the Forrest Sherman-class destroyers, the ship was originally designated as DD-952. Outwardly similar to the Forrest Sherman class, Charles F. Adams was the first U.S. Navy ship designed from the keel up to launch anti-aircraft missiles. To reflect the increased capabilities of the ship and to distinguish her from previous destroyer designs, Charles F. Adams was re-designated DDG-2 prior to the ship's launching.

Commissioned in 1960 she was homeported at Jacksonville, FL from 1969 until her decommissioning in 1990. She served with distinction during the recovery of Mercury 8, the Cuban Missile Crisis and numerous other historic events.

As the first ship of her class and the last surviving example she has been on museum hold since her decommissioning with efforts to return her to a downtown riverside museum in Jacksonville, FL in progress for over a decade.

Despite support from the community to restore this ship as a floating museum from numerous local, state and even federal leaders and organizations, including a recommendation from the Department of the Navy in 2014 and a massive fundraising effort the Navy has inexplicably reversed their earlier decision to donate the USS Charles F. Adams to the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association.

Although the requirements were met to receive the ship including nearly 2 million dollars raised the Navy has decided instead to dispose of the ship for scrap metal.

Please help us tell the Navy we want this classic and historic ship saved and returned to her home in Jacksonville, FL where she can be enjoyed for generations to come by those who served with her and those yet to be inspired by her.

The DDG-2 Class of Destroyer, of which 29 copies were built, were the workhorse of the fleet, serving with distinction around the world (some were also built for Allied Navies) will pass into history with not a single example preserved in the USA if this final effort to save her fails.