Charleston #4...

We recently took a trip to Charleston, SC for a short vacation.  What a place!

Over the period of three entries, I am going to write about our trip.  That way, I'll be able, hopefully, to keep these short and somewhat focused.  The first entry will be about the aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, the USS Laffey, a destroyer,  and the USS Clagmore, a submarine, all of which were anchored at the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in the Port of Charleston for permanent display.  We spent the better part of a day walking the decks of the submarine and the aircraft carrier. Being a military family, it was interesting, educational, and very humbling to walk in the footsteps of the men who fought such historic battles, wrote history with their bravery, and secured our liberty and way of life.

We started our tour on the Clagmore.  It was old, and in pretty bad condition, but still very interesting once you got on board and climbed down the ladder to the inside of the sub.  Everything inside was pretty much as it was "back in the day."

This is the front torpedo room which is now blocked off by this plexiglass wall.  It was extremely tight and small.

 

Here you get a better view of the room.  Notice the bunks above the racks that held the torpedoes.  Really tight sleeping quarters for these guys.

One thing that really popped out to me while I was walking thru the sub was how my shoulders would almost be able to touch both sides of the racks or bunks.  There was really not much room here.  I guess that is why they always said submariners were such small guys.  Also, when you would have to go through the hatches, or doorways (I don't know what they were called, I'm Army), I would really have to bend down.  I know they got the knack of it after a while because you would see them fly through them in all those WWII movies.  But at my age with old man's knees, it was low and slow.  I wanted to check out the captain's quarters and it was pretty small too.  Let's face it, there just wasn't much room for luxuries like sleeping quarters on a sub.  My tents were pretty bad at times, but this was worse.  At least I could walk around in the woods or the desert.

After a short time on the sub, we went aboard the Yorktown.  Walking up the stairs to get on board,  it was like I was walking through a big military history book, and the "Introduction" page was just turning for us.

You enter on to the hanger deck and have to work your way up to the flight deck. That's where I wanted to start anyway since there was rain forecast for the afternoon and we wanted to get that part in before the showers came. 

Until you are on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, it is hard to comprehend how big it is, let alone the fact that airplanes which are big in their own right, come and go from its decks, or are stored below the deck.  Then top all that off with all the people and "stuff" on board -- it really is impressive and you start to understand how much American power is projected around the world just through the presence of one of these ships with all its escorts.

I took some pictures of the medical facilities they had set up.  I wanted to show my dentist and heart doctor how the other half lived.

Oh, did I tell you that the temps while we were there hit the upper 90s!  Well, as we were strolling along the hanger deck -- in the shade -- it was time to eat.  And it just so happened that there was a sign advertising lunch in the Chief Petty Officer's mess.  So down a flight of stairs we went and came upon this wonderfully cool, air conditioned CPO's mess.  You talk about bringing back some memories...the kitchen (galley) looked just like some of my mess halls, and lunch that was being served was on metal trays.  We were served rice with tomato sauce w/meat balls, salad, mixed veggies, a cookie and a piece of white bread w/two pats of butter.  Anyone who had ever been in the military knows the bread is hard, the little pat of butter is on a small piece of cardboard with a small piece of paper on top of it, and the dressing is always Italian.  But, as I was wallowing in my memories of Army chow, we actually did have a good meal, in a very nice, cool, clean mess.  With everything being taken into account, it was a meal that stood up there with some of the meals we paid big bucks for in Charleston.

The "mess steward" was proud of the metal trays.  I told him I remembered the old orange plastic trays and cups. He gave me that look like "Were those from the Civil War?"  Recognize the napkin holders and the green plastic flowers?

Following the meal, Pam and I continued our tour of the ship.  We went to the bridge.  Actually, there were two of them -- one for the ship's captain and one for the flag admiral.  Now I know any Navy readers will be all over me for not having the correct names for these decks, but I could tell one was for someone who made a whole lot more money than the other ones.  I could also tell one was more of an operations or combat deck.

Pam tried out the "Big Guy's" chair. 

OK, so that's was the tour of the Yorktown.  As we walked around the various decks (chapels, the brig, the machine shop, the various sleeping areas, etc, etc.) I was just in awe of the guys who designed this ship and even more so of the guys who built them.  Again, there are some really smart guys running around out there.  And then, when you realize what all happened on this ship --  the battles, the deaths, the heroism -- it was really overwhelming.  What an honor to have been on this ship!  Thank you Yorktown and all who served on you!

I hope that as a country we never take for granted the freedoms that those who served on this ship fought for.  I also hope we never fail to show our respect to the veterans who gave us our freedoms.  In the words of George Canning, " When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep?"  I hope not.

"It is, in a way, an odd thing to honor those who died in defense of our country in wars far away. The imagination plays a trick. We see these soldiers in our mind as old and wise. We see them as something like the Founding Fathers, grave and gray-haired. But most of them were boys when they died, they gave up two lives -- the one they were living and the one they would have lived. When they died, they gave up their chance to be husbands and fathers and grandfathers. They gave up their chance to be revered old men. They gave up everything for their country, for us. All we can do is remember."  (Ronald Reagan, Remarks at Veteran's Day ceremony, Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Virginia, November 11, 1985)

Hooah