WWII buffs can get a piece of heaven

This isn't youraverage museum.
BY REBECCA SLOAN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. -- During a visit to Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, S.C., World War II history buffs will think they've died and gone to heaven -- or maybe just straight back to World War II.
That's because Patriots Point isn't your average museum.
Instead of filing through a sterile, mundane building and peering at row upon row of glass-cased artifacts, Patriots Point visitors will step aboard a Coast Guard Cutter that sank a German U-boat; climb a narrow stairwell to the mile-wide deck of a World War II aircraft carrier; tour a World War II destroyer that stormed the beaches of Normandy; and slip into the dank, mysterious chambers of a World War II diesel attack submarine.
What it was like
While aboard these four vessels, Patriots Point visitors will get a gripping sense of what life must have been like for the many American men who fought for freedom during one of the most pivotal periods in history.
All four vessels are moored a stone's throw from one another in Charleston's historical harbor.
The largest and most famous of the four is the USS Yorktown (CV-10), also known as The Fighting Lady.
Commissioned in 1943, The Fighting Lady received 11 battle stars for World War II service, and aircraft launched from the ship's flight deck helped sink the largest battleship ever built -- the Imperial Japanese Navy's Yamato.
The ship was also used during the Vietnam War and made history the day it came to the rescue of the crew of Apollo 8 after the spacecraft crashed into the sea.
The Fighting Lady's many exhibits will show visitors what daily life was like for servicemen aboard a World War II aircraft carrier.
The ship also features memorials to aircraft carrier sailors, test pilots and naval aviators killed in action.
Next in line
Moored next to The Fighting Lady is the destroyer Laffey.
Commissioned in 1944, Allied troops used the Laffey during D-Day landings at Normandy.
Laffey earned the nickname "The ship that wouldn't die" after its crew miraculously kept the vessel afloat after it was attacked by 22 Japanese planes and hit by four bombs and six kamikazes during just one hour of combat in 1945.
The Laffey was also used during the Korean War.
Laffey exhibits feature re-created living quarters and battle stations of World War II destroyer men and memorials to destroyer men who lost their lives in combat.
Coast Guard vessel
A few hundred yards from Laffey rests the Coast Guard Cutter Ingham.
Ingham sank a Nazi submarine during World War II and participated in convoys in the North Atlantic.
Ingham exhibits showcase daily life aboard a Coast Guard vessel and honor Coast Guard members who lost their lives during World War II and the Vietnam War.
Not far from the Ingham is the USS Clagamore, a diesel attack submarine commissioned in 1945 during the final days of World War II.
Claustrophobics might feel a little faint in the USS Clagamore's close, musty compartments, and after squeezing through the sub's tiny cubbyholes, visitors will wonder how robust sailors ever found enough space to live comfortably on a submarine far beneath the deep blue sea.
Visitors can also tour the sub's control and engine rooms and study exhibits in honor of submariners lost at sea.
Of course, the exhibits at Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum focus on much more than just World War II.
While aboard The Fighting Lady, Laffey, Ingham and the USS Clagamore, Patriots Point visitors will also see exhibits that commemorate every war in U.S. history, as well as exhibits that honor naval aviation and maritime legends.
Patriots Point also has an impressive gift shop where naval and maritime enthusiasts can buy everything from models of famous ships, to T-shirts, to Civil War history books.
Admission is $12.50 for ages 12 and up, $6 for ages 6 to 11 and $11 for seniors.
For more information about Patriots Point, call (800) 248-3508.