Patriots Naval Museum aboard the USS Yorktown

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We spent New Years Day aboard the USS Yorktown ( an aircrat carrier and battleship) which we wanted to see but was also one of the few tourist destinations available to us that wasn't closed for New Years day. There is so much to see that it is hard to know where to start. We took five of the six self guided tours available and saw the berth, the mess hall, the officers quarters, the galley, the infirmary, the brig, the radar room, the hanger and the flight deck among other things and of course many many planes displayed. I was glad to have the yellow arrows painted on the floor to guide us on tour as the ship is humongous and very confusing with all of the corridors that look the same. While there were diagrams of the various areas posted for sailors, I think that it would have taken a very long time to find morpedos around y way around without the arrows in peacetime never mind during the hecticness of battle. That said, I would have much preferred serving aboard the USS Yorktown to the USS Clamagore which was a submarine that was also stationed in port. Apart from being small and cramped and narrow it was noisy and during use with engines up it would have been 110 degrees F. Also the poor submariners in the torpedo room had bunks placed around the torpedos and shared 12 bunks for 18 submariners and when they did get a chance to sleep they would have had people manning the the torpedos around them. You really have to admire the sacrifices made by these men in exchange for serving their country and minimal pay.

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Photos

Aboard the USS Clamagore
see what I mean about being more cramped

Chris pearing through doorway
For those that know Chris he isn't exactly large and he was the only one that found it easy to go through these doorways!

The USS Yorktown
One humongous ship

Chris with helecopter
outside the vietnam museum complex there which we didn't have time to tour

The radar room
Red or blue lighting made it easier to read the screens

Kam getting closer
As I get closer you can get a better perspective of how big this thing is

The Doolittle Raid
For those that don't know about this, read what happened, very inspiring and a lot of firsts in Naval history

The Galley
Note the extra large pots and strainers, they served four meals a day to 3700 sailors so yes the proportions were slightly larger than in Moms kitchen...there were two mess halls plus the officers mess and two galleys but all the same a lot to cook for

a typical locker
Unless you were an officer this is all the space that you had for your personal belongings...not a lot but bigger than the submariners got on the Clamagore

Berthing compartment
sorry that there isn't a better shot of this but Bob had the camera....you can get an idea though reading the description

Me in the bakery
Bob took this because he said that I remind him of food....scary thought....note the extra large mixer paddle to the left of the picture...the kitchen aid mixer it went to was about four feet high with a two foot high bowl...huge

Comments

[Nory Oakes]

Lots to see
It looks like you're having fun. I bet Christopher is learning a lot.

[Bob and Kam]

lots to see
Yes there has definately been lots to see, I am glad that we have wifi at this campground so I'll be able to post quite a bit more over the next few days. The rest of SC and some from Georgia and FL.