Patriots Point facts for kids

USS Yorktown docked at Patriots Point, September 2006

Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum is located in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, at the mouth of the Cooper River on the Charleston Harbor, across from Charleston.

Museum ships and exhibits

USS Laffey

USS Clamagore

Patriots Point is home to three museum ships:

• USS Yorktown, an aircraft carrier
• USS Laffey, a destroyer
• USS Clamagore, a submarine (To be sunk as an artificial reef)

Former ships include the Coast Guard cutters USCGC Ingham, and USCGC Comanche, The museum hosted NS Savannah, America's only nuclear merchant vessel, until 1994.

Yorktown has many exhibits on board, including:

• Medal of Honor museum, with biographies of all medal recipients
• 28 naval aircraft, including:
  • Douglas A-3 Skywarrior
  • Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
  • Grumman A-6 Intruder
  • Ling-Temco-Vought A-7 Corsair II
  • McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
  • Grumman F-9 Cougar
  • Grumman F-14 Tomcat
  • Lockheed S-3 Viking

Exhibits ashore include:

• Civil War-era cannon
• Vietnam War-era:
  • US Navy Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter
  • USMC Bell AH-1 Sea Cobra helicopter
  • PBR-105 river patrol boat
  • Naval Support Camp

1975 – Present

Patriots Point has continued to grow; serving as an embarkation point for Fort Sumter tour boats, being home to several other vessels (including the submarine USS Clamagore), the Cold War Submarine Memorial, a replica of a Vietnam Support Base, and the museum of the Medal of Honor Society. Patriots Point celebrated their 10 millionth visitor in February 2017.

On 2 September 2003, Yorktown served as the backdrop for the formal announcement of Senator John Kerry's candidacy as he sought, and ultimately won, the Democratic nomination for President of the United States for the 2004 election.

Patriot's Point also hosts celebrations on patriotic holidays, with military reenactments and weapons demonstrations.