Standing on the USS Yorktown’s flight deck, with a view of Charleston’s church steeples and historic buildings throughout the harbor, I might see why Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum was one of the thrilling army museums within the nation. But attending to the flight deck to take pleasure in this view was not simple – it was truly a bit overwhelming the primary time – so I made a decision it was time to put in writing a whole journey information to assist first, second, and third time guests profit from their go to.
Patriots Point – because the locals merely name it – is positioned on the fringe of Charleston Harbor in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. You’ll have to pay just a few {dollars} to make use of their car parking zone, but it surely’s completely value it. You’re instantly greeted by the towering view of the USS Yorktown, the premiere attraction on the army museum. But it’s not the one factor to see and do.
40 Patriots Point Road, Mount Pleasant, SC | 843-884-2727 | www.patriotspoint.org
How Long Will You Spend at Patriots Point?
Patriots Point options three Navy vessels to discover – and the USS Yorktown has six guided excursions alone – so it is going to take some time to discover the advanced even if you happen to solely do a cursory walkthrough.
I like to recommend first-time guests plan to spend the “day” – no less than eight hours. There is a café on the USS Yorktown serving café-style meals, and there are many locations to take a break from strolling and standing.
If you solely have just a few hours, I like to recommend doing one or two of the self-guided strolling excursions on the USS Yorktown, the Medal of Honor Museum on the plane service, and a walkthrough of the Vietnam War Experience.
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Admission Costs to Patriots Point
If you’re a solo traveler like me, admission to Patriots Point just isn’t dangerous in any respect. However, when you’ve got a small household of 4 or 5, admission can begin to value a bit.
Single-day admission to Patriots Point begins at $24 for adults, $16 for kids ages 6-11, and $19 for seniors over 62. There are different packages and choices for admission, however that is the bottom value. I believe the admission value is properly value it, contemplating the sheer quantity of superior issues to see and do when you enter the gate.
Is Patriots Point Accessible?
Keeping in thoughts the principle attraction at Patriots Point is three army vessels that had been by no means constructed for accessibility, there are issues to do on the museum advanced for these with strolling handicaps.
In the USS Yorktown, the hangar deck and flight deck are accessible by elevator. This consists of the Medal of Honor Museum, a number of plane shows, and the snack store. Unfortunately, many of the remainder of the ship just isn’t accessible.
The USS Laffey and USS Clamagore are usually not accessible in any respect.
The Vietnam War Experience is an outside exhibit that’s reasonably accessible. A picket boardwalk winds by way of the recreation of a camp, and a number of other of the buildings are accessible.
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USS Yorktown WWII-Era Aircraft Carrier
The large attraction – and I do imply large – at Patriots Point is the WWII-era USS Yorktown plane service. There are only some plane carriers within the nation open as a ship museum – and that is the one one in South Carolina – so it was an actual deal with to spend a day exploring the ship.
The USS Yorktown CV-10 was commissioned on April 15, 1943, and named in honor of the USS Yorktown CV-5 that was sunk on the Battle of Midway. Nicknamed the “Fighting Lady,” the USS Yorktown noticed fight throughout World War II within the Pacific theater from 1943-1945. After conversion into an anti-submarine plane service, the USS Yorktown served within the Vietnam War.
In 1970, the USS Yorktown was decommissioned and 5 years later, sailed to Charleston to develop into the principle attraction of the newly created Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum.
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Hangar Bay #3
The principal entrance to the USS Yorktown is in Hangar Bay #3. Visitors climb an extended collection of steps to one of many plane lifting decks to enter the hangar bay, and an elevator helps with accessibility.
The Medal of Honor Museum is positioned throughout from the principle entrance. It’s one in every of my favourite locations to go to at Patriots Point. The museum is devoted to telling the tales of Medal of Honor recipients. Interactive shows clarify the historical past of the medal given out because the Civil War, the primary recipient, and tales of fight and braveness which have led to the award going to a whole bunch of veterans.
At the rear of the USS Yorktown, close to the fantail, is the small snack bar. You’ll discover typical meals like rooster tenders, fries, and sandwiches, all made out of frozen items, which are about nearly as good as you’ll discover at a drive-in movie show. It’s not dangerous meals and retains guests fed whereas spending a whole day exploring the gargantuan plane service.
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Hangar Bay #2
The hangar deck’s center part will possible be the primary plane you’ll encounter at Patriots Point. Several plane are on everlasting show together with interpretive panels to elucidate their identify and statistics.
The flight simulator is an pleasing expertise, though it’s not interactive. It’s not the type of simulator the place you possibly can take the stick and pilot the simulator your self – just like the one the place I turned the other way up on the National Museum of the United States Air Force – however relatively it’s like watching a film in a chair that bobs up and down.
Hangar Bay #1
The hangar deck’s entrance has just a few older plane on show and a big theater for historic films. At least, I believe that’s what it’s for as a result of I’ve by no means truly seen a film on the big display screen throughout all my visits.
Tucked right into a nook is a recreation of the Apollo 8 capsule. On Christmas Day in 1968, the Apollo 8 returned after spending 20 hours orbiting the Moon. The USS Yorktown was assigned to retrieve the capsule and astronaut pilots upon their return. Take a seat contained in the recreated capsule and hearken to the precise radio transmissions throughout the mission!
Self-Guided Walking Tours
The USS Yorktown options six self-guided strolling excursions starting on the Hangar Deck:
- Living and Working Areas
- Fire Room and Engine Room
- Flight Deck and Bridge
- Ship’s Memorials and Models
- Wardroom and Brig
- Charleston Naval Shipyard Museum
It will take round 4-6 hours to discover the displays, plane and stroll the corridors and stairs of all six excursions. If you might have restricted time to discover Patriots Point, I like to recommend taking Tour #1 and Tour #3. Each will take about an hour to discover and embody the ship’s areas just like the galley, enlisted quarters, machine store, flight deck, and command bridge.
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Tour #1 – Living and Working Areas
This is one in every of my favourite self-guided excursions on the USS Yorktown. The tour descends into the decrease decks and passes by way of the galley, cafeteria, crew quarters, and machine retailers. It was my first introduction to slim, steep staircases on a Navy vessel – and the low clearance bulkheads that somebody of my top ought to keep away from.
I really like this tour as a result of it reveals the areas of the ship the place the crew would have lived whereas not on responsibility; tables with board video games, bunks stacked one atop of the opposite, and slim passageways provide you with an excellent appreciation for anybody who served on a service.
Tour #2 – Fire Room and Engine Room
Fortunately for guests to the USS Yorktown, the engines are quiet as of late. But due to the downright attractive shows within the Engine Room Experience Exhibit, guests can no less than get an concept of what that roar seemed like.
The interactive exhibit is likely one of the finest at Patriots Point. It brings to life what in any other case was nothing greater than room after room of non-functional gauges and dials, making this one other of my favourite excursions on the USS Yorktown.
Tour #3 – Flight Deck and Bridge
This is the preferred self-guided tour on the USS Yorktown. The tour begins with passage by way of the pilot briefing room on the best way to the flight deck.
You achieve an appreciation for the sheer measurement of an plane service when you possibly can freely stroll throughout the 50,000 square-foot flight deck. The flight deck is so massive that one time I visited, I discovered a homerun derby carried out on the deck – with baseballs plunging into Charleston Harbor.
Almost two dozen plane and helicopters are on show on the flight deck. They signify all of the kinds of plane that had been as soon as deployed from the USS Yorktown, starting from WWII props to Vietnam-era jet plane.
A remaining climb on the self-guided excursions entered the bridge the place the ship was steered. The captain’s chair has the very best view on the ship with the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge stretching throughout the harbor!
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Tour #4 – Ship’s Memorials and Models
Just as a result of this tour consists of mannequin ships doesn’t imply it must be ignored. Display circumstances maintain huge fashions of varied Navy ships. It’s a good way to take a look at these ships’ design and performance as a result of many are usually not on show at any ship museum.
Tour #5 – Wardroom and Brig
Bright purple bars locked throughout a black steel grid. That’s what I bear in mind most in regards to the self-guided tour by way of the brig. “Everyone misbehaves at some point,” an older man in a veteran’s hat as soon as informed me on tour.
This tour included the barbershop, one thing I believe might need been a tailor’s store, and a soda fountain. Yes, a soda fountain on an plane service.
From the Forties till the Nineteen Eighties, Charleston Naval Shipyard was the biggest employer within the Lowcountry area and an important Navy asset. This self-guided tour explores the shipyard’s historical past with interpretive shows explaining the kinds of ships constructed and transformed on the shipyard.
Captain’s Tour of the USS Yorktown
I’ve all the time loved the self-guided excursions of the USS Yorktown, however I’ve to confess I used to be excited after I realized in regards to the Captain’s Tour by Bulldog Tours. The native tour firm presents a one-hour guided tour of the historic WWII-era plane service that features unique entry to areas of the ship and many nice tales of the historical past of the USS Yorktown.
The excursions value $39 per grownup and $29 per youngster, with reductions for seniors and army, and must be booked prematurely to ensure a spot for the day you need to go to. Since you continue to need to pay admission to enter Patriots Point, I believe this guided tour is finest for a second go to when you might have extra time to discover.
USS Laffey Destroyer
If ships might speak, the USS Laffey would have limitless tales to inform. Commissioned in 1944, the Navy destroyer was instantly despatched into the Atlantic theater to help in D-Day landings in Normandy.
Later, the USS Laffey served within the Pacific theater till the tip of the conflict, served as a help vessel throughout the atomic bomb assessments, and served within the Korean War. The “Ship That Would Not Die” was named after Medal of Honor recipient Seaman Bartlett Laffey, a Civil War veteran.
The ship was retired in 1975 and 6 years later, sailed to Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum.
Touring the USS Laffey solely takes about half an hour, but it surely’s nonetheless well worth the effort to see inside this destroyer. The tour begins aft on the ship’s outer decks earlier than heading inside to the Combat Information Center. A captivating interactive show that includes a hologram takes guests by way of the seek for enemy submarines.
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USS Clamagore Cold War Submarine
The USS Clamagore has an extended – very lengthy – historical past. Commissioned in 1945, the submarine served throughout the Cold War period when American and Soviet submarines patrolled the world’s oceans.
In 1975, the submarine was retired with out ever serving in fight. Six years later, it sailed to Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum.
The self-guided tour on the USS Clamagore is the shortest and most tough at Patriots Point. The passages are extraordinarily slim and hatches fairly small. Standing at 6’1”, I truly discovered it tough ducking by way of the hatches between every compartment all through the submarine. Difficult, however not inconceivable.
The two largest compartments I discovered on the submarine had been the mess corridor – 4 tables with swivel chairs connected – and the torpedo room. Space was at a premium, and it was fascinating to see simply how they utilized each cubic inch for storage, equipment, and dwelling house.
Vietnam War Experience
Back on dry land, the two.5-acre Vietnam War Experience is a recreation of a “Brown Water Navy” help base used throughout the conflict. It’s an fascinating side of the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum and one I extremely advocate all guests discover, even if you’re restricted on time.
A picket boardwalk winds by way of the camp previous a number of buildings, autos, and helicopters. Step contained in the Fire Control Bunker to see a video, discover the Mess Hall, or climb to the Observation Tower’s prime to take a look at the complete camp. Climb aboard the UH-34 Sea Horse helicopter – you possibly can even sit within the pilot’s seat – or take a stroll by way of the CH-46 Sea Knight to see how medical sufferers had been transported.
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Tips for the Best Experience at Patriots Point
There is so much to see and do at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum, and it’s virtually inconceivable to do all of it with only one go to. Here are just a few tricks to profit from your go to and provide the finest expertise.
- Arrive early and keep away from holidays as they are typically overwhelmingly busy.
- Wear closed-toed footwear. You’ll be strolling up and down very steep steel staircases on the ships, and every other sort of footwear might result in harm.
- This just isn’t a wet day exercise. Although parts of the excursions are contained in the ships, you’ll spend an excellent deal outdoors getting there, to start with.
- Bring your personal meals and have a picnic! There are a few tables on the fringe of the car parking zone.
- Food just isn’t allowed on the ships, however you possibly can convey your personal water, and I extremely advocate it. Air conditioning just isn’t out there on the self-guided excursions, and the ship’s bowels are likely to get sizzling in the summertime months.
- Visit the USS Yorktown first since that’s the place you’ll spend most of your time.