Patriot's Point Vietnam War Exhbiit

In addition to the Naval exhibitions, Patriot's Point also has a Vietnam War exhibit.

 

They exhibit in keeping with the overall nautical theme of Patriot's Point, has a PBR on display.

 While some of the Bunkers and exhibits were closed due to Covid, there was still lots to see.  The exhibit is setup like a Vietnam era base camp with a variety of Quonset huts, fence-line, and a watchtower.

There were more helicopters including a medevac Huey:

A rather tired looking H-34 Seahorse

 

And a CH-46 Sea Knight:

It's not a war if you don't bring artillery:

Other vehicles present include a deuce and a half in remarkably good condition. Murphy gave it a detailed walk-around inspection and concluded it probably wouldn't take much to get her up and running.

And there was an M-42 Duster, good for when you really want to get the kids off your lawn:

Note the "Keep Off" sign.  They put it there in advance of Murphy's visit.  They knew he was coming.

It's an extensive exhibit and well worth checking out.

Definitely plan for at least a solid day at the minimum when visiting Patriot's Point.

Patriot's Point: USS Laffey

Moored beside the USS Yorktown and dwarfed by her  in size yet packijng a punch of history is the USS Laffey

The USS Laffey, a Sumner class destroyer,  is famously known as "The Ship That Would Not Die".

The Laffey first served in the Atlantic theater, doing convoy escort and supporting the D-Day invasion.

It was at the Battle of Okinawa on April 16, 1945 however that she earned her moniker.  Hit not once by a kamikaze, not twice,  but by six separate kamikaze hits, as well as four bomb hits and an F4U Corsair hitting its radar antenna, all in one day. 

The Laffey crewmen, in the face of insane odds against which other ships would have been surely lost,  saved their ship from the extensive damage from those attacks, with 32 crewmen killed and 71 wounded out of a crew of 336.

The ship was in rough shape when she pulled into port in Seattle after the attack.

Repaired and refurbished, she served on proudly in the Korean War and into the Cold War.

She's the last surviving Sumner class destroyer.

The ship is in good shape and entry on to the ship is near the stern.

Passing cargo ships go by under her guns.

The galley:

 

The Laffey's torpedo launcher:

 

The Sumner class was the first class of destroyers to have a combat information center.

Radar:

The ship is now a national historic landmark

Much of the ship, including the turret interiors, was unfortunately closed off for access to the public due to Covid.

But the exterior of one of her turrets shows her action history well.

While we didn't get to see all of the ship, it was still a good and educational experience to explore what we could of this historic ship.

Patriot's Point - USS Clamagore

From the Flight deck of the USS Yorktown one could get some photos of the USS Clamagore, SS-343,  a Balao-class (and later GUPPY-class) submarine.  She served in the Navy from September 1945 until June 1975, a solid 30 years in service.

 Clamagore is the last surviving GUPPY class submarine. The sharkfins you can see on the bow were added for the GUPPY III sonar sensor upgrades.

Looking back from the sensors on the bow to the stern, she's certainly seen better days.

The USS Clamagore as you can see is looking pretty darn rough.

Due to Covid, the sub was sadly not open to visitors. 

I would have gladly signed a waiver to be able to get on board and see her, but that was not an option.

As a result, I will probably never have the opportunity to tour the inside of Clamagore.  

This will likely be the last year for anyone  to see the Clamagore above the waves, as she is now scheduled to be taken out and sunk as an artificial reef  sometime later this year.   

I'm not sure if this will be the first US designated National Historic Landmark to be deliberately sunk or not.  Once sunk, does that make it a National Historic Seamark? 

Once she is sunk, there will be no more surviving GUPPY class submarines left above the waves.

USS Yorktown - The Flightdeck - Marine Hornet!

The F/A-18 Hornet replaced the venerable F-14 Tomcat in the Navy's fighter line-up, as well as replacing the A-6 Intruder and the A-7 Corsair II as an attack aircraft.

This one is in the livery of VMFA-142, a Marine squadron with a legacy back to the Second World War, participating in the Guadalcanal campaign.  The squadron was inactivated in July 2008.

The F-18 has served with the US Navy, US Marines and a number of foreign countries including Australia, Canada, Finland, Kuwait. Malaysia, Spain, and Switzerland.  The F-18 A-D series has now been replaced in US Navy front-line combat squadrons by the F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets and  the F-35.  The Blue Angels have also turned in their F/A-18s for the Super Hornets.

USS Yorktown - The Flightdeck - The Tomcat Prowl

What would a tribute to carrier aviation be without the Grumman F-14 Tomcat?

The Tomcat, made famous in the movie Top Gun, is a large, twin-engined, two seat, swing-wing supersonic fighter and interceptor.

 

First deployed in 1974, it served with the US Navy until 2006 being replaced with the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.    The F-14 scored its first air-to-air kill in 1981 when a patrol of F-14s was engaged by, and then downed Libyan Sukhoi jets.

 

Tomcats were also adapted to fly air-to-ground missions with the ability to drop both precision-guided and non-precision bombs.  The moniker Bombcat was often applied to these upgraded aircraft.  F-14s took on air-to-ground missions in Iraq, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Interestingly, the F-14 on the USS Yorktown bears the markings of two different squadrons on the aircraft.

It bears markings of aircraft #103 of the USS George Washington on the port side with the squadron markings of VF-143, the Pukin' Dogs.

On the starboard side it is painted with the livery of the USS KittyHawk, Aircraft #101 of squadron VFA-154 The Black Knights.

USS Yorktown - The Flight Deck - The Mighty Sea King

For you rotorheads out there, there was a Sikorsky SH-3G Sea King on the flight deck.

The Sea King's size is something to behold in person.  Note the lady standing to the left for scale.

This one is marked as number 61 from  Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 4 (HS-4)  now called Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Four (HSC-4).  HS-4 served on 6 deployments on board the USS Yorktown from 1960-1968.  The squadron also set a record for the most downed airmen recovered,  24, on a single cruise in 1966 by an ASW squadron when the carrier was deployed in the Gulf of Tonkin.  

The Sea King is an amphibious helicopter and has done everything from antisubmarine and search and rescue work, to ferrying presidents, and even recovering returning Apollo space craft.

USS Yorktown - The Flight Deck - Skyhawk!

At the stern of the Flight deck an A-4 Skyhawk sat with its arresting hook deployed.

 

The A-4 Skyhawk was an outstanding light attack aircraft.

This one is pretty well wrapped up.

Designed in the early 1950's by Douglas'  brilliant aircraft designer Ed Heinemann, it came in under both the weight and cost limits of the Navy contract that led to its creation.  It proved to be a very successful design remaining in production until 1979.

While a lightweight strike aircraft, weighing 9,853 lbs, it can carry the same bomb load as that of a B-17 Bomber that weighted 34,000 lbs.

2,960 Skyhawks were produced and they served in some of the notable conflicts of the 20th century - The Vietnam War, The Yom Kippur War, The Falklands War, and The First Gulf War.

USS Yorktown - The Flight Deck - The Eyes And Ears Of The Fleet

 

The Grumman S-2 Tracker

The Grumman S-2 Tracker, or the "Stoof", introduced in 1952, was the first Anti-submarine warfare aircraft designed specifically as an ASW aircraft for the US Navy.  The Tracker and served on Essex-class carriers like the USS Yorktown and others.

The Tracker served as an ASW aircraft and as search and rescue operations with multiple foreign nations from both carriers and land based stations.  

The only remaining country  to operate the Trackers operationally in their military is Argentina.  

Trackers still continue to serve and fly today in civilian hands as water-bombers.

The Grumman E1-B Tracer

The "Stoof with a Roof" was Grumman's Airborne Early Warning aircraft.

The Tracer could and did operate from the decks of the Essex-class carriers, providing airborne early warning and control to Navy aircraft.

 and served in the fleet from 1959-1977 when it was completely replaced by the E2-A Hawkeye, which was too heavy to operate off of an Essex-class carrier.

Douglas EA-3B Skywarrior

Another huge aircraft on deck. Note the person standing helpfully to the left for scale. The Skywarrior was the heaviest operational aircraft to operate from a US Carrier, but it did indeed operate from the Essex-class carriers as well as their larger successors.

Originally designed as a nuclear heavy bomber for the Navy, it entered service in 1956.  The EA-3B was quickly phased out of nuclear attack with the ballistic missile submarine taking over the nuclear role, and it soon took on an electronic warfare and reconnaissance role.

The EA-3B served on through the first Gulf War, and was retired from service in 1991.

The number on this electronic warfare plane - 007.

USS Yorktown - The Flight Deck - Site Of The Intruder

The Grumman A-6 Intruder served as a long-range attack aircraft from 1963 through 1997 with both the Navy and the Marine Corps.

This one flew off the USS Independence.

The Intruder's payload and range have yet to be matched by serving carrier-based Navy and Marine aircraft.

84 Intruders were lost during the Vietnam war due to various causes.  One was shot down over Lebanon in 1983, and three were lost in the Gulf War.

It was also the star of the eponymous movie Flight of The Intruder.  The movie sadly showed that while fighter pilots make movies, bomber pilots make not nearly as good movies. 

USS Yorktown: The Flight Deck - The Mighty War Hoover

On the flight deck sat an aircraft near and dear to another blogger's heart, blogging over at Chant du Depart, as, after all, he flew them. 

The S-3B Viking was on the flight deck.

It's yet another impressively large aircraft up close.  A multi-role, multi-mission aircraft, it served in the Navy on carriers from 1974 until 2009, and one or two are still being flown by NASA.

 

Again, she was a Murphy-proofed bird with all access points sealed.

Like the Phantom, she never operated off of an Essex-class carrier, being too big by far.

USS Yorktown: The Flight Deck - Phantom!

As you exit the stairs onto the flight deck, the first aircraft you get to see is an F4 Phantom II.

The Essex-class carriers such as the Yorktown never operated the Phantom as it was considered to be too heavy an aircraft.

Murphy of course decided to see if he could use the tutorial he had received from OldAFSarge and open her up.

He tried, but alas, the Phantom had been Murphy-proofed, with all access ports sealed up tight.  They must have known he was coming.

No joy there.

Still it's an F-4 you can get up close and personal to see. 

USS Yorktown: The Hangar Deck, Like Gaul

Is divided into three parts.  

The hangar deck has enormous blast doors dividing the deck into three separate sections.  This protects the hangar deck and stores located inside from damage during battle. Originally there were three aircraft elevators to move the planes to and form the flight deck from the hangar deck.  Later modifications removed one of the elevators.

It's a very large  space, crammed with interesting exhibits, history and many artifacts of the Yorktown, and a special exhibit about her sister carrier the USS Franklin and how it survived crippling damage from an air attack in March 1945 due to the heroism and effort of her crew.  The attack had killed 800 of its crew, yet the ship was saved and returned to service after incredible damage.

A 40mm gun mount from the Franklin is on display  on the hangar deck, with some damage from the attack still visible.

 There's also a very good movie shown in by the memorial about the Franklin to the left of the gun mount that is well worth watching.

There's plenty of aircraft on display as well:

A Stearman biplane navy training aircraft:

 

The many types of aircraft that the Yorktown operated are on display:

The F4F Wildcat -

 The initial main American naval fighter of the war.  While inferior to the Zero, it was made famous in the hands of aces like O'Hare and Thatch, and proved to be able to meet the Zero on its own terms when the right tactics were used.

The F6F Hellcat - The US Navy's highest scoring aircraft of World War 2 and successor to the Wildcat:

 

The F4U Corsair:

 

The Douglas A-1 Skyraider

 

The Grumman Avenger TBM torpedo bomber:

 

The SBD Dauntless dive bomber:

 The F9F Cougar - bringing the Yorktown into the jet age.  Subsequent Navy jets quickly began to become too heavy to operate off the Yorktown.

Yorktown recovered the astronauts of Apollo 8, after their historic flight around the Moon in December 1968; so there are some space related exhibits, including a mock Apollo capsule:

And a mock up of the Friendship 7, the Mercury spacecraft piloted by John Glenn.

The hangar deck makes for an impressive display of the history of American naval air power.