USS Yorktown, Patriot's Point, Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, USA

 

The USS Yorktown is permanently berthed in Charleston Harbor and on public display. The Yorktown was commissioned in April 1943 (the tenth aircraft carrier, thus, designation CV-10) and decommissioned in 1970. In 1975 she became a museum ship at Patriot's Point as a National Historic Landmark. She served for many years in the Pacific supporting U.S. war efforts in WWII, the Vietnam War, and later as a recovery ship for the Apollo 8 space mission.

Tourists board the 888 foot long ship from this walkway.

An F/A-18 on display on the flight deck.  In my younger days as an air traffic controller, I provided air traffic control services to many thousands of flights by these aircraft that flew into or out of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in California.

On the flight deck.

Few people on the planet can lay claim to this chair - it belongs to the Captain of the ship.

And most of the 3500 men (3088 enlisted, 380 officers) on the carrier slept in these bunks - stacked three high about 18 inches apart, imagine all these young men packed into this tight space for many months at a stretch. How they kept all these men fed is an awesome feat that required four meal sittings daily.

And don't forget dessert - if you ever need a recipe for 10,000 chocolate chip cookies, here you go - tried and true, battle tested.