YES, THEY LET ME ON BOARD …
|| By WILL FOLKS || It’s a little after 11:00 p.m. on a Friday night and my eldest son’s Trail Life USA group is refusing to settle down. Numerous attempts over the last hour to get the kids to stop talking and go to sleep have failed. Miserably.
The kids simply had too much sugar … way, way too much sugar. Which means there’s literally no corner of 872-foot, 36,000-ton USS Yorktown where they can’t be heard.
Attempting to think (let alone write) in such an environment is next-to-impossible, so this is going to be a quick post. And yes, that will probably please our hosts – the board of directors of the Patriots Point Development Authority (a.k.a. the ship’s owners). Remember this website – ever the killjoy when it comes to government spending – has previously railed against against taxpayer money going to Patriots Point.
And with good reason …
The subsidization of museums – even ones as amazing as the Yorktown – simply shouldn’t be a core function of government. And the fact government funds such items (often with borrowed money) is yet another reason why state lawmakers have such trouble funding those core functions.
But hey … it’s the weekend. And I’m using the Yorktown’s WiFi. So I should probably have a few sips of STFU, right?
Right …
I’m a veteran overnighter on this ship … but every time I come aboard I’m amazed by how full the boat is with planes, weapons, space capsules, models, memorabilia, etc. I’m also always impressed by just how much of the ship you are allowed to see.
Seriously … there’s not much of the Yorktown that’s roped off, and while many of its exhibits need to be upgraded it remains the best, most engaging history lesson the state of South Carolina has to offer.
Unlike … you know.
Commissioned in 1943, the Yorktown was originally going to be named Bon Homme Richard, but it was rechristened during construction when the original Yorktown carrier was sunk by the Japanese at the battle of Midway. One of twenty-four Essex-class carriers, the Yorktown earned multiple battle stars in World War II and the Vietnam War, and in December 1968 it served as the recovery ship for Apollo 8. It also starred in the 1970 war epic Tora! Tora! Tora! – which depicted the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Permanently decommissioned in 1970, the ship has been a museum since 1975. It also host fundraisers and other Charleston, S.C.-area events – and serves as a backdrop for political events (like U.S. senator Rand Paul‘s recent swing through the Palmetto State).
Here’s a few pictures from the ship … more to come in future posts.
(Click to enlarge)
18 comments
Interesting article. Cool ship, but no mention of the biggest South Carolina story in 20 years. What about Volvo coming to SC?
” …get the kids to stop talking and go to sleep …” // reminds me —
———————-
A small boy is sent to bed by his mother…
[Five minutes later]
“Mom…”
“What?”
“I’m thirsty. Can you bring me a glass of water?”
“No. You had your chance. Lights out.”
[Five minutes later]
“Mom…”
“WHAT?”
“I’m THIRSTY…Can I have a glass of water??”
“I told you NO! If you ask again I’ll have to spank you!!”
[Five minutes later]
“Mommm…”
WHAT??!!”
“When you come in to spank me, can you bring me a glass of water?”
Ignorant Libertarian Myth #1 – Sugar makes kids hyper.
Lots of libertarian parents swear that a single hit of birthday cake holds the power to morph their well-behaved, polite youngster into a sticky hot mess that careens around a room while emitting eardrum-piercing shrieks. Anyone who has had the pleasure to attend a 5-year-old’s birthday party knows that the hypothesis sounds reasonable, except that science (I know, right?) has found that it’s not true.
Sugar doesn’t change kids’ behavior, a double-blind research study found way back in 1994. A sugary diet didn’t affect behavior or cognitive skills, the researchers report. Sugar does change one important thing, though: parents’ expectations. After hearing that their children had just consumed a big sugar fix, parents were more likely to say their child was hyperactive, even when the big sugar fix was a placebo,another study found.
Of course, there are plenty of good reasons not to feed your kids a bunch of sugar, but fear of a little crazed sugar monster isn’t one of them.
Ignorant Libertarian? More like a liberal soccer mom’s “wives tale”.
Most libertarians don’t even have kids old enough to eat birthday cake. …. We have butchered and eaten them all by then.
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Tell that to my 15 month old…he got into his sister’s birthday cake…think 3 inches of pure icing…last nite and was bouncing off the walls a good 3 hours after his normal night night time…but he’s sleeping well tonite…
how do you explain the results of double blind testing?
is that what y’all use @ Sam’s Club? How long have u been a sample Lady?
amazing so many words come out your blowhole…. yet the first one in this post covers u well.
A Warmonger when you can get something out it…Typical selfish Liberal-Tarians…
What’s in it for me?
It’s cool he has a blog to discuss spending time with his son. It’s more than you have. Time to find a new cause. Ask Rush what it is so you can report back in various comment sections. Tommy Lied: Inflated Footballs Died.
Hope that crow went down smoothly.
Duty on the USS Intrepid (CVCVA/CVS-11) was enjoyable and educational. The Yorktown (10) was commissioned and the Intrepid (11) was built immediately afterward.
I love Our Fighting Lady and try to make a pilgrimage every few years…I remember touring it with my grandfather 35+ years ago and enjoyed his WWII stories…I try to recount those stories to my children when we visit..I hope we never scrap the Yorktown…
Will Folks, did you get to see the operating positions for WA4USN?
I recently spent the night on the Yorktown with my son’s JROTC from Lexington High. He’s a senior and will be enlisting in the Navy and entering their Nucleur program later this year. My last opportunity to chaperone a trip with my son and I thought I’d take advantage of it. This was my first visit to the Yorktown and I was really impressed. As Will said, I was suprised at all the areas of the ship you could access. Yes, the bunks suck and I might have gotten 3 hours of sleep that night.
I very much enjoyed my trip and I hope the exhibit exist for a very long time. We as Americans must never forget the sacrifice the “Greatest Generation” made for our freedoms.
SHOCKER:
Has anyone else noticed the ad below that reads ‘Forget Iran, Iraq, Ukraine: This is where WWIII starts’..?? It shows a red outline of —- SOUTH CAROLINA..!!
What is Trail Life USA? Some sort of Boy Scout knockoff group?