While she was busy with her 10-hour test, we decided to tour the naval ship USS Yorktown in the Charleston harbor. This aircraft carrier served in WWII through Vietnam (1943-1970), and was named after an earlier aircraft carrier that sunk at the epic Battle of Midway (June 1942).
On the top deck we saw machine guns and lots of airplanes that flew off the carrier during its active tour. One of my favorite planes was the Skywarrior, the largest and heaviest aircraft to regularly operate from an aircraft carrier, earning the nickname "Whale". It was used as a bomber. To this day, it still holds the record for the heaviest catapult launch from an aircraft carrer (84,000 lbs) in 1959.
Another of my favorites was the F-14 Tomcat. This was a fighter Navy jet with advanced weapons systems. These were the planes featured in the Tom Cruise movie "Top Gun."
A super cool fact I didn't know about this ship is that it recovered the Apollo 8 space capsule in 1968. We couldn't go inside due to COVID restrictions, but it was neat to see.
Down in the belly of the ship we saw what it was like to be a sailor for months on end. Here is where the payroll, finance, and other administrative functions took place.
Since Ashlyn was busy taking her medical exam, we snapped a picture of the ship's operating room for her.
Their sick bay was huge! I can just imagine the chaos if the ship was under seige and all the injured were filling up the beds.
The engineering room was filled with pipes, valves, and gauges.
A quick selfie with the family showing our masks. These were required in enclosed areas.
We then toured the USS Laffey, a destroyer that often accompanied aircraft carriers to protect them in battle. The submarine onsite, the USS Clamagore, was closed due to COVID concerns.
