Nobody knew it at the time, but when American businessman William Boyce lost his way in the London fog in 1909 and was guided to his destination by a boy explaining he was a Scout that this would lead to the American Boy Scout movement. The following year on February 8, 1910, papers incorporating the Boy Scouts of America were signed. Today we celebrate the Centennial of Scouting in the United States of America.

Patriots Point and the USS Yorktown have had a long term relation with the Boy Scouts of America.I would guess that a significant number of her crew in the past had a some time been involved with Boy Scouts. Read an interesting story on scouts in the military here.

Since 1980 over 400,000 scouts have camped onboard the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point. Recently a visiting professor from Appalachian State University visited with his son and he commented,

I have just returned from a cub scout weekend on board the Yorktown and wanted to thank you and your entire crew for a exceptionally fine experience for these young people! I appreciated the organized activities, self paced tours and the general ways that  the days were planned.

My son (7 years old) is continuing to talk about his explorations aboard the carrier and the wonderful time he had. He can’t wait to return and repeat his experience with his brother.

I especially want to commend the folks who implemented the oceanography program for the kids. There seemed to be just the right balance between instruction and “hands on activities for the youngsters. I know my son gained much from that experience. The Saturday evening program was also very well done. It is so refreshing to hear such positive affirmations about our great country along with the sacrifices made by others to make it so great. Our young people need to hear so much more of this.

Thanks again for a job well done!

John

Dr. John Tashner
Professor
Dept. of Leadership and Educational Studies
College of Education
Appalachian State University

We look forward to many more scouts visiting Patriots Point as we help the Boy Scouts of America mold our boys into men during scouting’s next 100 years!

The new Ben Sawyer bridge being towed followed by the Maersk Carolina departing Wando terminal.

I don’t think this will happen again for a long time, but today a bridge floated by the Yorktown at Patriots Point. It is the replacement bridge for the old Ben Sawyer bridge linking Sullivan’s Island to mainland Mount Pleasant.  The original bridge was built during World War II and was made famous when Hurricane Hugo tilted it into the Intracoastal Waterway in 1989.

The Ben Sawyer bridge brought a new verb into Lowcountry South Carolina use, when folks said that they had been "Hugo'ed!"

You can read more about this fascinating project of replacing an old swing bridge with a new one here…

Here is a close up of the replacement bridge being passed by the container ship Maersk Carolina.

As the container ship, Maersk Carolina, passed the bridge under tow, it seemed to be moving at a slower speed than normal for departing ships, perhaps to keep its wake size down. The new bridge was being towed to its site on the Intracoastal Waterway on Highway 703 between Mount Pleasant and Sullivan’s Island.

Ben Sawyer bridge under tow.

Close up of the new Ben Sawyer bridge passing Yorktown at Patriots Point.

Whitesides student trys on a World War II helmet.

From 12 January to 11 March over 3367 students plus associated teachers and parents will be attending the History/Science Program at Patriots Point. This is the entire 5th grade student population of Charleston County School District! Funding was accomplished by a grant from the USS Yorktown Association and Charleston County School District.

Students will be learning history standards from World War II and science standards in the marine ecosystem areas. They rotate between 3 history stations and 3 science stations. Below are pictures taken by Patriots Point graphics artist Jim Vickers during the Whitesides Elementary School visit on 13 January.

Whitesides students ask Mr. Jim Morrow, World War II Marine, about his experience at the battle of Tarawa in November 1943.

Students learn about the crew of the SBD (Scout Bomber Douglas) and how the aircraft was used in the Pacific War.

Whitesides students become crewmembers of USS Yorktown (CV-10).

So this is how we can measure Ph!

Learning about "abiotic and biotic" factors in the new Marine Science center on USS Yorktown (CV-10).

What did we catch? Students sample the waters of Charleston harbor.

Laffey eased away from the Detyen's shipyard facilities on 11 January 2010 at 1300.

The Laffey was moved from Detyen’s Shipyard yesterday at 1300 to Pier November on the old Naval Base, now South Carolina Ports Authority property in North Charleston, SC. Studies are underway to determine the best site for mooring Laffey upon her return to Patriots Point in the near future. Click here to read more about Laffey in this Post and Courier article…

After five months of dry-dock repairs at Detyen's Shipyards, the famed World War II destroyer Laffey is pushed by tugboats Monday to the State Ports Authority's Pier November.

SBD "Dauntless" dive bombers from USS Hornet (CV-8) approaching the burning Japanese heavy cruiser Mikuma to make the third set of attacks on her, during the early afternoon of 6 June 1942. Mikuma had been hit earlier by strikes from Hornet and USS Enterprise (CV-6), leaving her dead in the water and fatally damaged. Photo was enlarged from a 16mm color motion picture film. Note bombs hung beneath these planes. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives Collection.

The SBD (scout bomber Douglas) was the most significant aircraft of the Pacific War as it was responsible for the sinking of six Japanese aircraft carriers and 60% of the Japanese ships sunk by aircraft. 5,936 of these dive bombers were built by Douglas from 1940 to 1944 (950 specifically for the Army Air Corp). You can listen to the Patriots Point podcast on the SBD by clicking here…

SBD on the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point.

Senior chief Sid Busch in front of the USS Clamagore, SS-343.

Our December volunteer profile is on Senior Chief Sid Busch. Sid grew up in Brooklyn, New York and joined the Navy in February 1965. He did his basic training at San Diego, California and then received orders to Sonar school at the submarine base in Key West,  Florida. As a submarine sonar technician Sid served on numerous submarines beginning with the USS Baya, SS-318.

His next two boats were USS Clamagore, SS-343 and USS Irex, SS-482. As seen above, USS Clamagore is now a museum ship at Patriots Point and Sid is once again back aboard explaining to visitors all the marvelous things he used to do onboard and how everything works on a diesel boat.

USS Irex

Sid went nuclear after diesel boats and served on the attack submarine USS Shark, SSN-591 and the USS Lapon, SSN-661.

USS Lapon off the Virginia coast 1967.

After serving in attack boats, Sid finished his career with multiple patrols on the following boomers (nuclear ICBM missile submarines) USS Abraham Lincoln, SSBN-602 , USS John Marshall, SSBN-611 , USS Mariano G. Vallejo, SSBN-658, USS John C. Calhoun, SSBN-630, USS James Monroe, SSBN-622 , USS Casimir Pulaski, SSBN-633 , and his last tour on the USS Florida, SSBN-728 . Senior Chief Busch retired in May 1991 after 26 years of service to the nation in submarines.

USS Florida underway at Babob Bay, WA, on 1 Aug 1985.

Sid’s most memorable story is when he was the boat’s diver on the USS John Marshall conducting operations in the Pacific Ocean. One day they were conducting TPU ops on the boat (dumping trash via cans out of a tube on the submarine) and were called to battle stations in the middle of TPU ops. A can in the tube unfortunately swelled during the battle stations drill and could not be discharged when TPU ops recommenced after the finish of battle stations. This made it necessary for the boat’s diver, Sid, to go outside and physically remove the can with a hammer and chisel. Sid departed through the escape trunk and made his way to the tube. He began to beat away with hammer and chisel and after 15 minutes decided to take a short break.

John Marshall (SSBN-611), SRF Guam Drydock.

Sid looked down under the sub while taking his well deserved break and noticed six to seven sharks swimming around and watching him. Sid said that suddenly the theme to Jaws began playing in his head.

He went back to work furiously and was able to finally pry the can out of the tube, after which he quickly returned to the escape trunk to reenter the boat.

Sid has been a volunteer at Patriots Point for five years now and anyone who accompanies him onto Clamagore for a tour will have an experience they’ll never forget. Sid is also an avid marathon runner and has run in many marathons across the nation. He tries to do one every year and so he is in super shape. With his energy and submarine knowledge we certainly expect Sid to be here for many years telling the stories of America’s amazing submarine forces. We salute you Sid!!!

A long time ago
A million years BC
The best things in life
Were absolutely free…

- Arthur Johnson and Johnny Burke 1936

Six days prior to the “Date of Infamy,” shipyard workers at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, gathered to lay the keel of a new warship. Originally this was to be the aircraft carrier “Bon Homme Richard“, but she would be renamed in 1942 to “Yorktown.” Her class of warships would be know as the Essex aircraft carrier class. It had only been seventy nine years since the first two great iron warships, USS Monitor and CSS Virginia, fought each other to a standoff within sight of Newport News. Now, much as the United States Navy depended upon her ironclads for victory in the Civil War, so the Essex class carriers would provide the naval muscle needed to win the war in the Pacific against the Imperial Japanese Navy. The picture below was originally captioned, “Murderers’ Row,” after the destruction of the Japanese navy by American naval forces at the battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944 and Leyte Gulf in October 1944 .

Third Fleet aircraft carriers at anchor in Ulithi Atoll, 8 December 1944, during a break from operations in the Philippines area. The carriers are (from front to back): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), USS Hancock (CV-19) and USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Wasp, Yorktown and Ticonderoga are all painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 10a.

USS Yorktown (CV-10) would be the second of thirty-two Essex class carriers ordered, but only twenty-four would enter service in the United States Navy between 1942 and 1950. In the mid 1950’s fourteen would be modernized to accommodate jet aircraft.

Underway during the battle of the Philippine Sea, June 1944. The ship is painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 10a.

Unlike the popular 1936 song and Bing Crosby movie Pennies from Heaven, aircraft carriers would cost a great deal more than “pennies from heaven.” I recently queried the folks at (now) Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia and here is what they came up with…

The original contract called for Essex class carriers to be constructed at the $40 million mark, but after many improvements and upgrades made during the hectic days of the war the price was closer to $70-78 million per carrier.  Considering the record our carriers compiled in World War II, I’d say the country made a very wise investment in these ships which would continue to serve our nation for many years…

If you want the things you love
You must have showers.
So when you hear it thunder
Don’t run under a tree.
There’ll be pennies from heaven for you and me.

As we approach the holiday season many in our nation and the world will be escaping with their friends or loved ones to the movies.  We escape into adventure, romance and other emotions of the human experience. The USS Yorktown has an extensive tie with the dreams of Hollywood and we now take a look at her association with the movies and television.

The first film associated with USS Yorktown is the 1944 Academy Award winning documentary The Fighting Lady narrated by Robert Taylor and directed by Edward Steichen with Charles Boyer, Joseph J. Clark,  and Dixie Kiefer.  There was evidently some trouble in getting the film released by the Navy censor at the time, but former commanding officer Jocko Clark was able to persuade the Navy captain to release the film and Hollywood was grateful. Here we see Jocko with Bob Hope on his trip to the west coast for the movie’s release…

Watch it here on YouTube…

1954 would be the year that 2 films would appear on the USS Yorktown. First was a  short documentary film produced by Otto Lang entitled Jet Carrier.  It was nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Documentary Short and the other for Best Two-Reel Short.

The next movie made more of a splash and was entitled Men of the Fighting Lady (1954), but it was filmed aboard a sister Essex carrier, CV-34, USS Oriskany.
Stars were big names, Van Johnson and Walter Pidgeon. F9F Panther jets from US Navy squadron VF-192 were used and they were also used to film The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954). After the filming of these two movies, the squadron name was changed from “Golden Dragons” to “World Famous Golden Dragons”.

After Van Johnson brings in a blind pilot and lands safely on the carrier, he mutters “I should have found a home in the Army”.

Dick Van Dyke and Nancy Kwan star in Lt. Robin Crusoe (1966) about a Naval aviator who crashes and ends up on a deserted island that, of course, is not deserted. Van Dyke finds a chimp named Friday in this film.

Thought the ship was not used in the filming, USS Yorktown was host to the world premiere of this film. Van Dyke, Buddy Ebsen, Fred MacMurry, Eva Gabor and other stars attended.

Television came to the Yorktown in November 1968 when TV’s  Get  Smart series had an episode filmed onboard in San Diego. Here is a copy of the ship’s newpaper coverage of the filming.

During the filming in November 1968 of Tora Tora Tora (1970) warplanes painted with a Japanese insignia were lifted onto the USS Yorktown at San Diego and then transported to Hawaii for use in the film.

Government assistance on this film resulted in a 60 Minutes investigation. The Yorktown had her flight deck repainted as the Japanese flagship of Admiral Nagumo, Akagi. Below is the ship’s newspaper article on the filming…interestingly the ship carried Japanese painted aircraft as it a transited the Pacific to Pearl Harbor in December…Even with the movement of Hollywood into space with the Star Trek series the name USS Yorktown continues with NCC-1717 USS Yorktown which is mentioned in multiple Star Trek episodes…

Fitting that descendants of the Fighting Lady would go into…Space… the Final Frontier…  to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before…

One day recently as I was completing a program on the flight deck of Yorktown, I noticed a lady standing off to the side of the A-6 Intruder aircraft with her hands resting on the aircraft as if to hold it up. Tears streamed down her face, so I walked over and asked if she was okay. She looked over at me and said, “Yes, I’m fine…I came here to remember my brother.”

Grumman A-6 Intruder medium bomber

She told me her story of how her brother launched off of his aircraft carrier in the Tonkin Gulf on a strike against North Vietnam one day in 1970.  His squadron mates remember him being with them when they went “feet dry” (naval aviation term for overland), but no one ever saw what happened to him… no radio calls… no explosion… no fireballs… no prisoners of war… no bodies…her brother’s aircraft never returned to the aircraft carrier it had launched from. It was as if this Intruder crew, pilot and bombardier navigator (BN),  had disappeared from the face of the earth and flown into eternity.

The lady told me that she was thankful for a place like Patriots Point, where families could come to remember their loved ones. Her brother has no grave, but she comes to Patriots Point to place her hands on the Intruder. It is then that she remembers how he loved to fly and how he loved his family and loved his life and loved our country…

She told me that our nation needs places like Patriots Point, like the Vietnam Wall, where people can go and place their hands on something real, something tangible…like the aircraft and ships at Patriots Point that have carried those who have served our nation.  She believed that in the touching of the aircraft she touched the hand of her long lost brother…and that her loss was healed and her reconnection to her brother’s memory strengthened her for today and tomorrow’s trials and tribulations.

Some may think her a little odd,  but I wondered… perhaps she is right…

why not draw comfort and strength from our past to give us hope for today and tomorrow…

why not remember past lessons that help us live life today and tomorrow…

why not physically connect with the history that has made us a free people and amazing nation today and tomorrow…

why not remember the sacrifices of our patriots knowing that sacrifices will be needed today and tomorrow…

I was touched by her story and comments, and she smiled as she departed the flight deck…there seemed to be a glow around her…and so I raised my own hands to touch where hers had been on the aircraft… and as I remembered Mark Lange and my cousin, Kevin Hills, tears streamed down my face…

Patriots Point’s overnight stay program is very well known, our programs for elementary through high school are becoming better known, but two youth programs at Patriots Point are poorly known…even most of our staff don’t realize that these programs occur onboard the USS Yorktown.The programs are the Navy League’s Sea Cadet program and the Boy Scouts Sea Scout program. Both programs are co-educational offering opportunity and adventure for both boys and girls (ages 11-17).

The Naval Sea Cadet Corps (NSCC) is for American youth ages 11-17 who have a desire to learn about the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine. Sea Cadets are authorized by the Secretary of the Navy to wear Navy uniforms appropriately marked with the Sea Cadet Corps insignia. The objectives of the Sea Cadet program are to introduce youth to naval life, to develop in them a sense of pride, patriotism, courage, and self-reliance, and to maintain an environment free of drugs and gangs.

The Hunley-Yorktown Sea Cadets drill onboard the USS Yorktown one Saturday per month, if you are interested you can visit their website here.

The Coastal Carolina Council of the Boy Scouts of America have a Sea Scout Ship at Patriots Point. It is Ship 510 and they routinely meet on the Yorktown. Sea Scouting is organized to promote better citizenship and to improve members’ boating skills and knowledge through instruction and practice in water safety, boating skills, outdoor, social, and service experiences, and knowledge of our maritime heritage.

You can find out more about Ship 510 at their web site here…