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USS Newport News Work Party; March 08, 2002 We are proud to say, that the USS Newport News Museum now has possession of our ship's bell. But the story of what all it took to get it is a long and frustrating one. In August 2000, in the hopes of finding ship's artifacts, Al Siegel contacted assorted agencies looking for any items they may have from our ship and in particular the ship's bell and the bridge ribbons. |
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"We Found the Ship's Bell!" One of the agencies Al Siegel contacted, was the Naval Historical Center in Washington D. C. who have been very helpful in letting the USS Newport News Museum have many of the items from our ship that they had in storage. Although they did not have possession the Ship’s Bell, They did tell us it was their understanding that the Mariner's Museum in Newport News has it and we should direct our search to Virginia. The Naval Historical Center believed the bell was "well cared for and getting a lot of visitation'. We were grateful for the corporation of the Naval Historical Center on helping us acquire other treasures they had saved from our ship. But we were obviously disappointed that after all these months of communications and searching, that we now had to start the communication process going with a new agency. Also, there was a concern that, if the Bell is on display, would the Mariner’s Museum let us have it! During the reunion June 2001, Mike
Lanier and Al Siegel and their wives took a ride to the Mariner's Museum
to see our bell on display. When they got to the museum, they discovered it
hadn't been on display for years. Mike and Al were able to have the
Mariner’s Museum curator take them back to a storeroom where they found
the Ship’s bell, gathering dust. |
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After leaving the Mariner's Museum, Al Siegel then started going through the red tape of acquiring permission to have the USS Newport News Ship’s Bell transferred to the USS Salem. On January 28, 2002 we received approval for the transfer of the USS Newport News ship’s bell from the Mariner's Museum of Newport News, Virginia to the United States Shipbuilding Museum (USS Salem) in Quincy MA. |
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"We have possession of the bell!" After acquiring permission to move the bell to Quincy, then came the challenge of how to move this item that weighs almost 1,000 pounds. And how to pay for the cost of transportation. Master Chief Rags Ragland now steps up to the plate and takes charge of the transportation of the bell from Norfolk VA to Quincy MA. Rags and Tim DeSalvo work out the details and put together a plan for the transporting our Ships bell to the USS Salem. The USS Newport News Reunion Association (NNRA) steps up to the plate to pay the transportation cost for moving the Bell. Below picture is of Master Chief Rags taking possession of the Ship's bell and the Memorial Plaque from the Marnier's Museum in Norfolk, VA. Picture by Tim DeSalvo. March 6, 2002 |
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It should be mentioned at this point of the story
that, even though this group of pictures is about the Ship's
Bell, Rags and Tim DeSalvos also transported the Memorial Plate
for the Oct 1st, 1972 Explosion from the Mariner's Museum to the
USS Salem on this same trip.
But, the story of the Memorial Stone will be another "Picture Page Story" we hope to have ready for you in the near future. Picture by Tim DeSalvo. March 6, 2002 |
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The bell arrived at the USS Salem at 0800 hours,
Master Chief Rags, Tim & Laurie DeSalvo left Norfolk with the Ship's Bell and the Memorial Plaque Thursday at 0400 and drove the 13 hours / 577 miles to Quincy. The next morning, the bell was offloaded and put aboard the USS SALEM. Picture by Tim DeSalvo. |
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