Warning if you’re not into warships and naval aviation – bad luck coz, this blog is all about that.
This is another blog that I have had difficulty with culling photos. We were in Charleston, South Carolina. This is where the first shot in the American Civil War was fired. Charleston is steeped in history though it focuses on more modern history than St Augustines (http://volitans.net.au/2018/07/georgia-on-my-mind/). Another great spot is Patriot’s Point where tourists catch the ferry to Fort Sumter where that first Civil War shot was fired. However the main feature of Patriot Point is the huge aircraft carrier USS Yorktown. Alongside her is the destroyer USS Laffey and the submarine USS Clamagore. There is a very good (but new/incomplete) Vietnam War display and they even have missiles and rockets in the carpark.
This first gallery is all about the Yorktown. I have started with the first things we saw and that was a Subrock Anti-Sub rocket and a Talos Missile parked in the parking lot. We then wandered down the wharf towards the ships with tickets in hand. When we stepped off the top of the gangway we entered the hanger deck. The first thing you see is a ‘squadron’ of old fighters and bombers. But first we headed to the flight deck to have a look aloft before the sun got too hot (our days here have all been above 90°F (32°C)). I won’t give you a tour of each aircraft (except the F4 Phantom which doesn’t have a sign). Apart from that I have tried to place a picture of the sign immediately following the photo of the aircraft. The gallery finishes after Shane tried the Captains chair and we have 3 pics from the bridge wings.
Meanwhile, down in the hanger I have tried to do the same thing with the sign/aircraft photos in this second gallery. Intermingling with these are just a tiny bit of the historic memorabilia they have on display. It starts with the B25 before the next few pics hit home as they include HMAS Perth and her part along with USS Houston in the Battle of the Sundra Strait. There are also some eye opening photo’s and a model of USS Franklin after she was hit by a Japanese bomb and Kamikazi attack.
Further down the gallery (after the aircraft photos) we show just some of the other exhibits. There is no way we could photograph or post them all. The tourist guides told us to expect 2 hours to see Yorktown. We spent 5 hours and still didn’t see it all. On top of this we then rushed to the submarine, USS Clamagore as Shane had never seen the insides of a ‘sewer tube’. I must admit as I always have, submarines were never for me. Despite their best efforts it was still scorching hot in the sub so we hurried through before boarding the destroyer USS Laffey. As both Shane and I have both climbed over several destroyers we didn’t spend too much time aboard Laffey.
We thought that was it for the day until as we returned ashore we noticed the new Vietnam Exhibition. This is another good presentation that will only get better as it grows. With a quick glance over our shoulder we wrapped up our day with a photo of Yorktown breaking out from under the storm clouds.
Charleston has much more to offer and I’ll include that in the next post. So keep watching for more of our adventures in America.
Cheers for now
Garry & Shane
Great aircraft pics there mate and some of my favourite planes to be sure….. I feel a need for a trip to Temora I think, where I can not only touch them but can watch them fly…………Are you going to just park up and sit back by a river, do a bit of vege camping………..?????………………Thats 66c/lt, we are paying around $1.55/lt ,makes our stuff about $4.20us a Gal US..Who’s getting ripped off..
Heading to Blue Ridge Mountains/Smokey Mountains North Carolina/Georgia tomorrow for a few days then a week’s rest in Atlanta.