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- Nov 25, 2007
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On a very recent portcall I was able to visit the USS Yorktown. It is at Patriots Point in Charleston, SC. There really is something there for almost all branches of the military (I don't remember USAF).
The area is made up of the USS Yorktown (WWII air craft carrier), the USS Laffey (WWII destroyer), USCGC IGHAM (WWII Coast Guard cutter, although it was used into the 80's.) a submarine i don't know the name of, and a model of a Marine outpost in Vietnam.
First I went to the USS Yorktown. As far as ships go, it's very large, but I was surprised at how much free roam visitors were given. I found myself in the engine room very much alone. This is the way I like seeing ships, without that annoying lady talking on her cell phone the whole time. There was also a great area dedicated to the US Merchant Marine. Also, there was a GREAT Medal of Honor memorial area set off from everything else. You could read stories. I would recommend listening to Douglas Munro's story as told by his shipmate. Douglas Munro is the only Coast Guardsman to receive the Medal of Honor. Sadly a women was talking on her cell phone, which is pretty disrespectful in a place like that.
I'm not an engineer, so I found my way to the bridge, which also happens to be the best part of a ship (in my humble opinion). I walked the flight deck, headed back down to the hanger bay to see some more aircraft and then left for the next stop , the sub.
The sub was a pretty short visit. It was small, very small, and reminded me why I would never want to be on a submarine. It was kept up well and "flowed" besides the four little kids climbing all over everything, where were their parents? Who knows.
Next was USCGC INGHAM. I wanted to save this for last, but I was too excited, so I visited it twice, with the destroyer sandwich in between. INGHAM was first ship my EO was on, as a fireman apprentice (FA). Needless to say, our EO got a nice ribbing when the crew found out his first ship was a museum during Quarters.
After this I headed to the destroyer. It was entertaining, I appreciated being about to stand on the bridge and heading through the aft gunmount was great since I had never done that.
Back to INGHAM and then over to the model of the Marine outpost. That was pretty interesting, but my favorite part of that was the Navy riverine patrol boat out front.
After all of this I headed back to USS Yorktown, picked up my coat that I had dropped off while I was onboard, and I headed to the bus stop to take I bus I almost missed, back to downtown Charleston.
The area is made up of the USS Yorktown (WWII air craft carrier), the USS Laffey (WWII destroyer), USCGC IGHAM (WWII Coast Guard cutter, although it was used into the 80's.) a submarine i don't know the name of, and a model of a Marine outpost in Vietnam.
First I went to the USS Yorktown. As far as ships go, it's very large, but I was surprised at how much free roam visitors were given. I found myself in the engine room very much alone. This is the way I like seeing ships, without that annoying lady talking on her cell phone the whole time. There was also a great area dedicated to the US Merchant Marine. Also, there was a GREAT Medal of Honor memorial area set off from everything else. You could read stories. I would recommend listening to Douglas Munro's story as told by his shipmate. Douglas Munro is the only Coast Guardsman to receive the Medal of Honor. Sadly a women was talking on her cell phone, which is pretty disrespectful in a place like that.
I'm not an engineer, so I found my way to the bridge, which also happens to be the best part of a ship (in my humble opinion). I walked the flight deck, headed back down to the hanger bay to see some more aircraft and then left for the next stop , the sub.
The sub was a pretty short visit. It was small, very small, and reminded me why I would never want to be on a submarine. It was kept up well and "flowed" besides the four little kids climbing all over everything, where were their parents? Who knows.
Next was USCGC INGHAM. I wanted to save this for last, but I was too excited, so I visited it twice, with the destroyer sandwich in between. INGHAM was first ship my EO was on, as a fireman apprentice (FA). Needless to say, our EO got a nice ribbing when the crew found out his first ship was a museum during Quarters.
After this I headed to the destroyer. It was entertaining, I appreciated being about to stand on the bridge and heading through the aft gunmount was great since I had never done that.
Back to INGHAM and then over to the model of the Marine outpost. That was pretty interesting, but my favorite part of that was the Navy riverine patrol boat out front.
After all of this I headed back to USS Yorktown, picked up my coat that I had dropped off while I was onboard, and I headed to the bus stop to take I bus I almost missed, back to downtown Charleston.
