Visitation Schedule:
Saturday-Sunday, October 13-14, 2007
9:00 a.m. ‘ 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m. ‘ 3:00 p.m.
Tours will depart from the T-Wharf, Rockport (at the intersection of Broadway and Mt. Pleasant Street) on roughly an hourly basis.
USS BOONE coming to Rockport for Harvest Festival
More than 200 Sailors from the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS BOONE (FFG 28) will arrive Friday afternoon in Rockport for a port visit in celebration of the 3rd Annual Harvest Festival. The ship will be anchored outside the harbor. This is the first Navy ship to visit Rockport since the U.S.S. Goodrich, a Gearing-class destroyer, appeared in Rockport on July 3, 1950. BOONE’s commanding officer is Cmdr. Newman Evans.
BOONE Sailors will participate in a variety of activities while in Rockport. On Saturday members of the crew will do a community relations project painting Motif #1, tour Thatcher’s Island, play golf at the Rockport Country Club, and play a softball game against the police and fire department at Evans Field at 6:30 p.m. On Sunday, the crew will also have tours of Thatcher’s Island, lobster boat tours, and kayak races and tug-of-war at Front Beach at 8:30 a.m. At 4 p.m., the Navy Northeast Show Band will perform a free concert at Rockport High School.
During the port visit the ship will be open for free public tours Saturday and Sunday from 9 ‘ 11 a.m. and from 1 to 3 p.m. Tours are on a first come first-served basis, no reservations will be accepted. All passengers are subject to search. No weapons, bags of any kind or drinking containers will be allowed. Small purses and cameras will be permitted. Adults must have a photo ID. The ship is not handicapped accessible. Minimum age is 6.
Due to the number of steep ladders required to tour the ship and because of her limited emergency medical capabilities, people with heart conditions, breathing difficulties or other medical conditions will not be permitted to board.
BOONE, home ported in Mayport, Florida, was built at the Todd Pacific Shipyards Corp., Seattle Division, and was commissioned on May 15, 1982. Her mission is to provide local area protection to carrier strike groups, underway replenishment groups, amphibious forces, military and merchant shipping, and to conduct anti-submarine operations to protect our sea lanes of communication.
The 4,100-ton warship is 454 feet long and 45 feet wide, and is powered by two General Electric Gas Turbine engines producing a top speed in excess of 28 knots. Sleek, responsive, and versatile, BOONE is equipped with Standard surface-to-air missiles; Harpoon anti-ship missiles; a rapid fire, dual purpose 76mm gun; a Close-In-Weapon System (CIWS) gatling gun with a rate of fire in excess of 3,000 rounds per minute; anti-submarine torpedoes; and two Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS) MK III helicopters designed to conduct successful sustained operations in a multi-threat environment.
The ship is named after Admiral Joel T. Boone who was awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while serving with the Sixth Regiment of the U.S. Marines near Vierzy, France on July 19, 1918.
For more information, visit www.boone.navy.mil.