The depression-era "stimulus" program that gave us CV-5 (original Yorktown) and CV-6 (Enterprise) saved out bacon in the Pacific. Here's a shot of the two carriers in the builders yard in 1937.
Posted on 10/21/2009 7:16:24 AM PDT by Peter Horry
MOUNT PLEASANT -- The aircraft carrier Yorktown played a heroic role in numerous battles for the Navy, from the time it was built in the 1940s until it was decommissioned in 1970.
But as the longtime centerpiece of the floating maritime museum at Patriots Point, the inactive warship has been slowly losing a silent, corrosive and very costly war with nature.
Officials at the military attraction estimated Tuesday that it would cost more than $100 million to dry dock and repair the ship's deteriorating steel hull. It's money that South Carolina does not have.
Patriots Point USS Yorktown naval museums
(Excerpt) Read more at postandcourier.com ...
I say junk it! It greives my heart to see Historic Ships rot at the pier. We already have a “Essex” class CV for a monument(USS Intrepid CV-11) in NYC. Make it a reef.
More scrap metal for China
Saw it, the Laffey and the Clagamore (sub).
Fixen’ to have the same problem with the USS North Carolina at Wilmington. It needs a new bottom also.
By the way, more spaces in the North Carolina have been opened up and its an awesome tour.
And CV-16 Lexington in Corpus Christi.
But its sad to see a great ship go to the breakers.
If they cant fix it and no one else wants it, don’t “turn it into razor blades” make it a reef so at least divers can still see it
I’ve been to it on a visit to Charleston. It evokes respect for those who served on it during WW2. The first Yorktown was sunk at Midway in the historic turning point of the war in the pacific.
Seems to me refitting the ship would be a good use of stimulus money, better than loading money into the welfare funds IMO.
Vince
Yes - been on the Intrepid, and this past spring we made it a point during our road trip to hit Corpus Christi and tour the Lexington.
It is really the Yorktown II. Had it been the 1st Yorktown it would be sacrilege to scrap it. Yorktown was sunk at the Battle of Midway, the turning point of the Pacific War.
You type faster than I do.
They should just build a large cofferdam around it like they did for the USS Alabama in Mobile Bay several years ago. Pump all the water out and work on the repairs right in the harbor.
Total cost of that repair I think was around $5-6 million - vs. $100 million - it’s an easy decision.
The Destroyer I was on, an old Fletcher Class Destroyer, was sunk by the Navy and replaced by another ship with the same name. That ship was also sunk by the Navy after it ran its course. Sinking these ships is a very emotional time for the sailors that served on them. It’s difficult to understand how men can get so attached to these ships but it happens. I’ve seen grown men cry uncontrollably when they loose their ship. Sailors understand that it is just part of the course though and they deal with it. Emotionally attached or not.....they deal with it.
If other ships need to be gotten rid of, so be it. New ones will take their place and other sailors will learn that their ship will become a big, big, part of their life.
I once spent the night on the Yorktown with a Boy Scout troop. Claustrophobia would not seem to be a problem on a ship that huge, but it is. The crew quarters were bunks stacked 6 high to the ceiling. There was precious little space between your nose and the guy above you. It gave me a new appreciation for the men who served.
It is a sad state for the old lady. They have a great program for Scouts. We have slept on the ship a number of times between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. It is quite an experience to sleep in the old bunks, as they are not spaced very far apart.
Oh, yeah. The day they send ENTERPRISE to the bottom will be a tough day for me. Even though my sojourn aboard her was a dark time in my life, the thought of her being torn to pieces by Indians on some dirty beach far from home is too much. I pray they sink her or turn her into a museum — anything but the breakers.
The depression-era "stimulus" program that gave us CV-5 (original Yorktown) and CV-6 (Enterprise) saved out bacon in the Pacific. Here's a shot of the two carriers in the builders yard in 1937.
The USS New York LPD-21 was made from metal taken from the World trade center. If they can’t fix it scrape it and use it to build part of the building be built to replace the World trade center.
out = our
I suppose the reason we hate to see them sunk is because it is your home while serving aboard.
It seems you and I had the same experience/memory (see #12). The bunk space on the submarine nearby seemed comparable.
The Missouri is going into dry dock at Pearl this week for repairs and paint. Wife and I plan to visit in February.
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