Yorktown Won't Relocate for Repairs

The USS Yorktown is often called the "front door" to Mount Pleasant, and even when the boat undergoes massive repairs, it will stay in its current location.

board voted Wednesday to move forward with repair options that only involve repairing the ship in the Charleston Harbor.

“The only logical option is to restore it in place with a coffer dam,” said Mac Burdette, Patriots Point executive director.

The Mount Pleasant naval and maritime museum recently had structural engineers give the boat a once over, and now the board will present requests for proposals for a structural analysis that will guide the eventual repair effort.

“We could have left it open (the repair location), and the consultant would have come back with 15 proposals, if you let them,” Burdette said.

Other options could have involved moving the 68-year-old Essex-class carrier to a shipyard either in North Charleston or Virginia, Burdette said. But since the Yorktown is the principal attraction at Patriots Point, those options would punish the tourist attraction’s bottom line.

There is no set timeframe for actual repairs, and Patriots Point has made no decision on how it will fund that effort. A consultant is expected in January to present a long-range plan for Patriots Point's future.

Patriots Point has been beleaguered in recent years over reports that the Yorktown has structural deficiencies that are causing it to leak. Repair cost estimates have hovered around $100 million, though there has been no formal assessment of the ship’s structural problems.

The vote to advertise a request for proposal means a contract for the assessment could come as early as March or as late as June. That assessment, presumably, will tell the board what needs to be fixed on the ship.

“The plan is to repair it for 30 years with the idea that it could be maintained in perpetuity,” Burdette said.

Also on Wednesday, board members met behind closed doors to hammer out plans for the return of the USS Laffey, the Naval destroyer sent to drydock for repairs last year.

Patriots Point is planning for a January return for the ship, but Patriots Point wants to house the ship in a new location that requires modifications to the attraction’s central pier.

A previous request for proposals, because of the way it was worded, did not yield any bidders, said Butch Hills, Patriots Point spokesman.