Pensacola News Journal March 17, 2005
Ship to dock in Pensacola
Navy destroyer will be commissioned in December
By Nicole Lozare
A Navy destroyer will blast Pensacola with a much needed shot in the economy before year's end.
The Forrest Sherman, a guided-missile destroyer, is scheduled for commissioning in Pensacola on Dec. 10, retired Navy Vice Adm. Jack Fetterman announced on Wednesday.
The commissioning is a significant "win" for Pensacola as cities throughout the nation compete for the honor and economic bonanza that usually accompany such a highly publicized event.
"Along with the economic impact is the visibility for a community that truly cares about the Navy," Fetterman said. "This also plays heavily in the Base Realignment and Closure process."
When a ship is in port, the average crew member contributes about $70 per day to the local economy, Fetterman said. The Forrest Sherman, in the finishing stages at the Northrop-Grumman Ship Systems shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., will accommodate a crew of 383 officers and enlisted personnel.
"I think Pensacola is popular because many military towns don't have the reputation of being friendly to all ranks as we are," said Susi Lyon, marketing director for Seville Quarter Entertainment Complex, a popular party destination for sailors on liberty.
"People who come from other towns say that we roll out the red carpet during commissionings. We also get a lot of business from the sailors in town, and we usually host at least two receptions."
Navy Cmdr. Michael Van Durick also said that Pensacola's long history with Adm. Forrest Sherman and his family made it a perfect fit to commission the destroyer named after the aviator.
"Pensacola has been a great place for the Navy and Naval aviation for many years," said Van Durick, commanding officer of the Forrest Sherman. "Forrest Sherman was a distinguished aviator and instrumental in preparing pilots for World War II. Also, he met and married his wife in Pensacola. When you add it all up, the closest association with any city that the Sherman family has is Pensacola."
Members of Sherman's family are scheduled to attend the commissioning. An airfield at Pensacola Naval Air Station also is named after Sherman.
The USS Forrest Sherman will be the second guided-missile destroyer commissioned in Pensacola. The USS Mitscher was commissioned here in 1994. Local leaders already are courting the Navy to commission the Makin Island, a multipurpose amphibious assault ship, in Pensacola in 2007.
Who was Navy Adm. Forrest Sherman?
Forrest Sherman was a Naval aviator who was a flight student and then an instructor in Pensacola in the 1920s. More than 20 years later, Sherman - then a rear admiral - was assigned as deputy chief of staff to the Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz. Sherman served in that post for the remainder of World War II and was present when Japan surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945.
In October 1949, Sherman was promoted to chief of
Naval operations, with the rank of admiral. He oversaw the Navy's responses to the twin challenges of a hot war in Korea and an intensifying Cold War elsewhere in the world.
On July 22, 1951, while on a military and diplomatic trip to Europe, Sherman died in Naples, Italy.
Source: www.GlobalSecurity.org
© Copyright 2005, Pensacola News Journal (Pensacola, FL)
