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Civil War Tour: Patriots point

June 2015

This floating museum is a retired military aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown.  It also includes a destroyer and a submarine.  The visit was well worth the price of admission (which was $20 per person).  We could easily have spent more time here. 

A side comment: If we look like we are melting, it is because we were.  June in South Carolina is hot.  And we happened to hit a heat wave.  When we got back to the car at the end of the day, the thermometer shows 100' F.  Anne said "Oh, that is because it is sitting in this parking lot."  We drove off, and in a short while looked again at the temperature; it now shows 104' F. 

Looking up at the Yorktown:

USS Yorktown seen from the front at Patriots Point with the harbor and bridge beyond

The walkway over goes across a marshy area, where a Great Egret was looking for a meal.

Great egret standing in shallow marsh water beside the walkway to the USS Yorktown

Scrappy, the ship mascot, greeted us.  Scrappy was a dog who was smuggled aboard the ship by the sailors in 1943.

Person in a Scrappy the ship mascot costume, with light brown fur and goggles, stands with arms outstretched inside the USS Yorktown museum

The tour of the Yorktown is divided into sections, covering different sections of the large ship.  One of the scariest items (which we don't have a picture of) was the dentist's office.  Can you imagine having dental work done on a ship with rolling waves? 

Paul took command of the ship.

Paul sitting in the ship's bridge area as if taking command of the USS Yorktown

And then worked the engines himself.  (Guess they need more one sailor.) 

Paul standing at the engine controls inside the USS Yorktown surrounded by gauges and machinery

The signs explained how the post office was a favorite of the crew, since they could receive news from home and stay in touch. 

Post office window and mail slots inside the USS Yorktown

Mess hall must certainly have been another favorite location.  According to Wikipedia, this type of aircraft was designed for "a complement of 215 officers and 2,171 enlisted men. However, by the end of World War II, most crews were 50% larger than that."  (3500 is mentioned as the crew size on the sign below.)  Cooking for that many people must have been a huge undertaking.  It required big equipment and big recipes.

Large metal ship's mixer displayed on a wooden table in the USS Yorktown galley exhibit

You gotta love a recipe that measures baking soda in pounds instead of teaspoons.

Blue sign explaining the bakery recipe for 10,000 chocolate chip cookies aboard the USS Yorktown

The tour includes the deck of the aircraft carrier, where many airplanes were on display.  It takes special arrangements to stop a plan on such a short runway.

Thick metal cable that snakes around a brace on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown

There were many vintages of planes on the deck.

Aircraft on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown with the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge beyond

Two planes on the aircraft carrier deck with a bridge in the distance

Rear view of a jet aircraft parked on the flight deck of the USS Yorktown

Anne considered using the anti-aircraft gun, but the seat was so hot she couldn't really sit down.

Anne sitting on an anti-aircraft gun mount on the deck of the USS Yorktown

Here is a view of the bridge section of the ship, with Anne in the picture for scale.

Bridge island of the USS Yorktown rising above the flight deck, with Anne standing below for scale

With a ship this large, internal communication is obviously important.  We found the sound-powered phone concept interesting.  It probably wouldn't work very well for a casual conversation, but could be extremely useful in an emergency.

Sound-powered phones display inside the USS Yorktown with handsets and an explanatory sign

The museum covered more than just that one ship.  In addition to showing aspects of life on the ship, there were exhibits some on navel battles, memorials to soldiers lost in war, Apollo missions information, and other ships.  The Ticonderoga exhibit was particularly interesting to Paul.  His cousin Eddy Marocco had served on the Ticonderoga, including picking up one of the Apollo aircraft.

Apollo 17 recovery emblem for the USS Ticonderoga displayed in the museum exhibit

The submarine that is part of the museum was slightly nerve-wracking to tour, since it has obviously seen better days. 

Submarine moored at Patriots Point with the marina full of boats behind it

Anne had been on a more modern submarine once, but this was the first time Paul had been on one.  Space is certainly at a premium.  Tall people need not apply for a position.

Interior of the submarine showing Anne crouching in a doorway

Activities are done in shifts on any sea vessel, but it is very obvious in a submarine.  The 'after battery compartment' served as kitchen, mess hall, recreation area, movie theater, training room, study hall, and more.  To get to the food storage area, the cooks had to go through a tiny hatch to a lower level of the submarine.  Claustrophobic people need not apply.

Mess tables and benches inside the submarine's after battery compartment

This page is getting rather long, so we will leave with a picture of the South Carolina flag, and a random picture of the destroyer.

South Carolina state flag flying above Patriots Point against a deep blue sky

Close view of the bow number and anchor on the destroyer at Patriots Point

 

Now we head . 

Updated April 2026