The primary goal of the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum is to reach beyond the history of the four famous combat ships enshrined within at the museum and honor all the major World War II naval combatants. The museum emphasizes permanent memorial exhibits and actively has sought close ties with veterans’ reunion associations. The result is that museum visitors can experience not only life on board an aircraft carrier, destroyer, and Coast Guard cutter, but also can find the stories of battleships, heavy and light cruisers, destroyer escorts, and experience maritime history throughout Charleston, South Carolina.
The aircraft carrier Yorktown (CV-10)—recipient of the Presidential Unit Citation and 11 Battle Stars during World War II—is the flagship for the museum fleet. In addition to converting compartments into exhibit space to preserve and display her own memorabilia, some of the carrier’s compartments have been restored to their original use; others for space to display artifacts and memorabilia for sister carriers. Most of what remains of the World War II carriers Enterprise (CV-6), Franklin (CV-13), Essex (CV-9), Hancock (CV-19), Ticonderoga (CV-14), Saratoga (CV-3), Monterey (CVL-26), and others is on board the Yorktown.
The hangar deck of the Yorktown is home to a dozen famous carrier airplanes, including Wildcat, Hellcat, and Corsair fighters; two TBM Avenger torpedo bombers; and a rare SBD Dauntless divebomber. Exhibits on the hangar deck show World War II fast carriers, carrier Presidential Unit Citation winners, supercarriers, Battle of Midway torpedo squadrons, a test pilot hall of honor, and the National Memorial to Carrier Aviation—individual plaques bearing the names of more than 8,000 pilots, crewmen, and sailors lost in combat. The Yorktown’s flight deck features jet planes from the Korean and Vietnam War eras, while large bronze plaques for naval luminaries inducted into the Yorktown Hall of Fame hang on the island.
More than 120 recipients and several hundred spectators were present for the formal dedication of the National Congressional Medal of Honor Museum on board the Yorktown in 1983. The Museum is on the hangar deck of the carrier and features displays on the eight eras for which the medal has been awarded.
Although the Patriots Point fleet presently does not include a battleship or cruiser, there is a large exhibit on board the Yorktown on World War II battleships and an even larger exhibit on the Navy’s heavy and light cruisers. Visitors especially are drawn to the 12 six- to ten-foot models in the two exhibits.
The destroyer Laffey and the Coast Guard cutter Ingham also received Presidential Unit Citations during their service, and both have exhibits chronicling their history. But, like the Yorktown, they honor their sisters. Two main-deck compartments on the Laffey have been converted into a World War II Destroyer Memorial that highlights the major functions of destroyers, the awards received, and the sacrifices made during the war. A destroyer escort exhibit is located above the destroyer memorial, while a second berthing space on board the Ingham is now a memorial exhibit for World War II Coast Guard cutters.
The submarine Clamagore (SS-343) entered service too late to see action in World War II, but few visitors fail to tour her interior. Plaques and photographs honoring sister ships have been placed only where space permits.
Unique among museums is the U.S. Naval Advanced Tactical Support Base, “Somewhere,” South Vietnam, located landside at Patriots Point. A large-scale reconstruction, the Support Base offers visitors a realistic combat environment that existed along the inland waterways of South Vietnam beginning in 1965. Vintage combat-damaged helicopters and a 31-foot Mark I river patrol boat are included, along with sea huts, a 24-foot observation/gun tower, ammunition bunkers, mortars, and memorabilia from brown-water sailors.
Patriots Point is well on the way to achieving the goal of creating exhibits to honor the major combat ships of World War II. Next, a new goal: Korea and Vietnam alumni also deserve a final anchorage.