Patriot Point

 Patriot Point is located on the Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. It is the home to the Yorktown Aircraft carrier and the Sumner Class Destroyer USS Laffey. The Laffey's history includes brutal Kamikaze attacks and severe damage during WWII. 

Julie ready for the tour

This is the view when you enter

The carrier was in active service for decades and had a constant change of aircraft as technology matured. Examples of all the aircraft are found on the ship

This is the second carrier named the Yorktown. The first was sunk at the Battle of Midway

Weaponry used was on display

Julie and her buddies

The history of sunken aircraft carriers was covered in some detail

There is an inclinedramp intended to show the list of a carrier deck due to battle damage and to give an idea how hard it is to walk.

WWII Aircraft engines were shown in cut away form to explain operation

Pilots ready room for briefings

Enemy aircraft identification training

Retrieval of space ships was part of the carriers mission

Large collection of ship models are on display

We headed up to the carrier deck 

Newer aircraft are on display on the flight deck

Interesting detail on the aircraft exhaust

Records of the results of each air group on the carrier

The ship's bridge

This is the access to the self guided tours of the lower decks

Radio repair room

The Brig

Details of how the catapult works

Mess Hall

We would see these yellow boats wherever we went in the harbor. It turns out they are self driven tour boats that follow the lead boat who is giving tour info via radio to the following boats

This is the view when you prepare to leave the carrier

Then on to the Laffey

There is a well done recreation of the threat determination center decision process

Why do I get the feeling Julie is saying "Hi Sailor"?

Great place to visit ships of recent history