Pinned post for Q&A :)

Back in 1994, when I was seven years old, my scout troop stayed the night aboard Yorktown. It sparked a lifelong love of all things maritime. Thank you for all you do to highlight these wonderful experiences so they continue to be preserved and inspire future generations.

"Yorktown, the Fighting Lady, has returned to you once more."

Not someone who ran a boiler plant but many a BT helped explain the stuff at 35:50 to me so here goes: the pipe down the middle with holes in it is the pipe where feed water enters the steam drop. The cylinder looking things are your cyclone separators (circular baffles that separate steam and water as they come up the generating tubes into the drum). The top pipe is the dry pipe where the steam is sent either to the auxiliary system or to the superheaters. Those at the end were the sight glasses because you gotta make sure your water level is correct else you will either ruin your turbines with carry over if it’s too high or witness rapid and violent disassembly if it’s too low

USS Laffey has a GREAT story ... the captain wrote a book called: The Ship that Would Not Die. It's well worth your attention.

I've walked that ship twice in my life. My grandfather served on her younger sister, the USS Boxer CV-21, during the Korean War.

That killboard really makes me wish we had one for Enterprise…

My dad was a plank owner and served on her until the end of the war. My brother, nephew and myself had the opportunity to take my dad for a visit in his late 80’s. We were given an escort to tour the ship and they also recorded a video interview of dad about his time on the ship. My dad traversed from deck to deck as if he were decades younger than his actual age. He is long gone now but I cherish the memory of that day.

My 13 year old nephew visited this ship last year and was very excited to show me all the photos he took when he came back home. I've taken him to air museums and to the USS Silversides as he's grown up. The ship looked awesome, I hope to make a visit at some point

A couple of comments here. A few years ago, when I was living near Charleston, I took a visiting friend to Yorktown. Down in the machinery space I demonstrated the procedure for lighting off the boiler. As for the picture shown of the inside of the boiler’s steam drum, those are cyclone separators that cause the steam being generated to swirl, shedding excess moisture. Regarding the inclinometer, when I was serving in a destroyer of the same class as Laffy, we experienced a 55 degree roll. Very exhilarating!

Oh snap! I was super pumped to see this! My grandfather was the dentist on this ship in WWII. Great video!

It was a pleasure to get to meet you on Yorktown. I tend to make my way onboard 3 to 4 times a year and pretty much every time something I've missed in the past catches my eye. As you said, anyone who can visit her (or any other museum ship) should do so and support her continued existence. Both her and Laffey are wonderful, storied ships.

I'm glad you started the look at the aircraft with the A4-C Skyhawk. The reason being, I know a fun fact about it and the aircraft next to it, the F-14 Tomcat. Namely, that the tail surface of the F-14 is exactly the same size, (lift area), as the Skyhawk's main wing. As you say, "the little aircraft that could."

My wife & I were married on board her in 2012. There happened to be a gathering of Clemson alumni at the tike, and the operators of the museum introduced us to the alumni, and then gave us a bit of a guided tour of Yorktown. It was a very enjoyable and memorable experience, and one we look forward to repeating when the Navy gives me another chance to get over there.

Your question regarding the unknown equipment... You are looking in the steam drum of one of the boilers. The cans are the steam/water separators. The tube with multiple holes running away from the viewer is a sparger which distributes water throughout the drum. The external view shows multiple water level gauges. Maintaining water level in the drum is a vitally important requirement. Boiler explosions result from no water in the drum and water carryover to the turbines can erode the rotating and stationary blades or quenching the rotor metal resulting in a turbine wreck. I hope this helps.

Thanks Drach! Awesome to catch this video on day 1! I was one of the very last sailors to serve on an Essex Class Carrier. USS Lexington CV(AVT)- 16 From 1989 to decommissioning in 1991. The US Navy's training and reserve re-qualification carrier for many years out of Pensacola Florida. Love that Lady Lex, always proud to have been on board for a couple years. She's now a museum as well in Corpus Christi Texas. At the time, we flew T-2's, A-4's, A6's, EA6B's and the choppers and cod. Over 500,000 traps in her history, a record. I was an IC in Plat Lens, V2 Division, I stood Gear/Lens watches right next to the Air Boss. " Gear Lens set, A6 .. Clear Deck!" - never a dull moment really.

Great video, Drach. There's lots of other interesting parts of Yorktown, at least last time I was there. This includes the Medal of Honor museum and the battleship display. Also an Avenger on the hanger deck with LCDR H.W. Bush's name on it.

I still find it tragic and sad that the original USS Enterprise (CV-6) wasn't preserved. It's great that we've got a lot of the Essex-Class carriers preserved, but damn it, we should have preserved the last and most heavily decorated member of the Yorktown class.

Thank you for a very good tour. As a former crew member from 66-69, with one trip to North Korea and Vietnam, you brought back some great memories. We were also the Japanese aircraft carrier in the filming of "Tora, Tora, Tora" and picked up the Apollo 8, the first space craft to leave Earths orbit and travel to the moon and back.

"The train kills might make the submarines jealous" -- I imagine the USS Barb might have something to say about that. (5-minute guide candidate?)

Thank you for this review! My grandfather served as a radioman on Yorktown from 44 through the end of the war. The last time I visited the ship was with him when I was 7. So your video is bringing back a lot of good memories.

My family visited Yorktown almost every year when I was a kid. I love this old girl. I got to take my kids to visit it last year when I went back to the same condo complex we stayed at year after year in my childhood. It felt so good to share those same memories with my children. My son will one day be one of your subscribers, as he loves naval history and aircraft.

Perhaps the coolest thing I've ever experienced was being on the deck of Yorktown while the 2017 solar eclipse passed overhead. Experiencing a total solar eclipse is cool. Experiencing it on the deck of an aircraft carrier is much cooler.

I can;t count the number of time I have been on this ship. FUN FACT - the hotel to the stern of the ship (the orange/red roof) has a faux-beach area. My sister and brother-in-law got married on that beach. We had to delay the wedding 10 mins for a container ship to pass or it would have ruined all the pictures. Excellent bungalows as well.

I am recommending you to watch the movie/video "The Fighting Lady" on YT, it's about Yorktown's service during WWII from commissioning, Raid on Marcus Island and Truk Atoll and then finally until Philippine Sea engagement. It's very recommended since it showed how the crew operated onboard and also footage of the raids on enemy bases or ships. I also think the documentary or film won an Emmy Award or something.

It never ceases to amaze me just how much stuff gets crammed into the spaces onboard iron/steel ships. Sure they crammed what they could into wooden ships, but once you get into all-metal ships the level and amount of tech that gets put on ships starts to increase by orders of magnitude. More or less simply because that is when the tech becomes viable to put there (or when it gets invented in the first place).

Very well done my compliments. Veteran of USS Midway, USS Constellation, and USS Enterprise.. ( you know you're getting pretty damn old when the ships you served on are either scrapped or Museum pieces.. my dad was pissed off until the day he died oh, that the government sold his ship to the Japanese after the war. The Jeep carrier USS Prince Williams.) Time just slips us by

Went on her in 1985 on a family vacation thank you for helping me remember some great memories.

My dad was a Plankowner, served on her until ther end of the war. Thank you for doing this video.

I wish they preserved an Essex class carrier with 1940s or pre 1950s configuration with 4x twin 5"/38 mounts, two each in front of and in the back of the island section, the most interesting armament configuration on an aircraft carrier.

It was a great day with excellent weather. Happy to have met you there.

My father served on the USS Yorktown in the mid-50 as part of a squadron flying F2H Banshees. He toured the ship in the 1980s and said that it smelled exactly the same. (He claimed that the different carriers could be distinguished by smell.) At the time he was on board the Yorktown had not gotten its angled flight deck yet, but just the conversion to allow operation of jet aircraft.

Drach, thanks for this tour. As a South Carolinian, I appreciate it. That are is a treasure trove for war history fans: Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, and of course Patriot's Point, with the ships and tge Vietnam firebase exhibit.

It's wild to think that this ship launched a decade before the B-52

If I’m not mistaken,the enclosed bow added to Essex during refits is literally called a “hurricane bow”, designed specifically to prevent damage to the flight deck in high winds. (Fast air moving over any flat surface makes it an unintentional wing. If you got a brick up to a significant amount of speed it’s going to develop some lift)

Amazing thank your at Patriots Point! My father served on the USS Laffey DD-724! He has a hilarious story about a torpedo that was meant for helicopters being loaded in their tubes on the 0-1 level... Thankfully it was a training shot, needless to say it was fired promptly jumped out of the water, turned around and hit them amidships... Thank goodness it was inert but still a great story.

I live in S.C. and have visited this ship several times over the years. Always a fun trip. They do a nice job with their displays, especially the Battle of Midway memorial. Considering what happened to her off Okinawa, the fact that the Laffey is even able to be displayed is amazing, also.

I've been on this ship at least half a dozen times, but I was still looking forward to this video. Thanks Drach

I visited her and Laffey a few years ago. Didn’t have time to see everything onboard, but regardless, it was still a fun time nevertheless.

Been to the Yorktown 2x.... First time was with my son and our cub scout pack. Spent 2 nights aboard, thoroughly explored the USS Yorktown, the USS Laffey (the destroyer that would not die), the USS Clamagore (RIP), and their on-shore Vietnam experience museum. Tried to see the Hunley before returning home, but the restoration shop was not open that day. Returned with the whole family a few years later after my daughter said she wanted to tour some warships too - my lovely wife was not as thrilled about it as the kids and I were. 😉😉😆😆

As always a totally awesome tour of a museum ship. I only wish that Great Britain had done the same, but I have been aboard HMS Victory and HMS warrior both splendidly done and in Japan Mikasa.

I’ve gone with scouts several times. Also went with my 4th grade class and our teacher, her father or grandfather (can’t remember which one) came with us who actually served on the ship! I don’t remember much but I do remember him giving us much more detail about stuff that other groups would stop and listen to him

I was an LSO attached to VS-23 from 11/62 to 12/65. Great to see a tour of my old ship. Fun to see the various aircraft on the flight deck, but the only ones that could have landed on her were the S-2E, A-4, WF-2 and the SH-3 helo. Some of the others landed on Essex class carriers but only those who had steam catapults and upgraded arresting gear.

I took a picture of my son when he was 4 years old, 21 years ago in the engine of the F-4 Phantom on the deck of the Yorktown.

Visited her in October and she is an absolute beauty of a ship. There's even a few relics salvaged from USS Yorktown(CV-5), and they finished up the paint job on the SH-3 Sea King in the colors of "Old 66" which recovered Apollo 10. Cannot wait to go back again!

Patriots Point/ Yorktown and Laffey were my favorite ship museum as a kid back in the 90s! Amazing place to visit!!!

Drach, keep up the great work! Great information and, as always, you presented it in a very entertaining and pleasant way

Another great video. Chronometers were still in use in the US Navy in the 1980s and 90s when I served. Based on the logic you never know when electronic aids will disappear due to conflict or equipment failure.

Nicely done! I've read the comments, it's heartening to see the joys and happy memories that old girls given people. I haven't been there since a dreary cold spring morning (like 2 am morning) in 1976, being in charge of a work crew from our ship to go down and tie her up when she first arrived. The Cooper River Bridge stood there then. I guess I need to wander down to Charleston and see her again.

So at 36:00, I think you are looking into an evaporator unit. I was a Navy machinist mate on the USS Enterprise. Our evap units were located in #2 Auxilliary Machinery Room and were much larger. I worked in #4 Main Machinery (Engine) Room. I took an engine room tour on the USS Hornet. An interesting feature of the Essex class was that the main engines had a three turbines instead of the usual high pressure and low pressure arrangement found on most steam ships. I think the third turbine was called an intermediate or cruising turbine. I look forward to seeing more from your US visit!

Even though this is slightly passed the time period you said you prefer to cover, this is still full of the details longtime fans would expect. Outstanding work sir, look forward to your video on the only museum aircraft carrier that is not an essex!

Nice reference to USS Hornet CV12. Can’t wait for you to come out and see her.

This ship is only about 90 miles from me. Been here several times. Well worth the trip..I've been all over this boat! They used to have a coast guard cutter and a sub. I also love the jungle base recreation.

None of the WWII planes? You tease! 😉 What's interesting to me is how much of the engineering space equipment looks just like what we've seen in Ryan's USS New Jersey videos. It makes sense that ships from roughly the same period had common controls and instruments. I'm guessing you'd see some of the same things on the Laffey, just less of it.

Here's a fun/interesting fact. The electronic attack variants of the Skywarriors were called "Electric Whales"

Dead reckoning is short for deduced reckoning. I learned this little factoid and elementary school. If you get it wrong, then you get something like Honda point happening. That cost the US Navy something like six destroyers.

Next time you come to Philly I can give you a water eye view of NJ Olympia and the actual Navy Yard from my boat. It's one thing to be on the ship but to see them from the water in a boat is truly humbling. I know the JFK was moored there and that is incredible to see. Idk if they scraped it yet

My father was an Aviation Bosun's Mate aboard the USS Essex during the Cuban Missile Crisis. My family and I made it to Patriot's Point in July of 2022. We loved touring the USS Yorktown. I think my father would have had the time of his life if he was still with us. The F-4 Phantom II is my all-time favorite aircraft. We thoroughly enjoyed our day at Patriot's Point. The tour of the USS Laffy is a worthwhile venture as well. She has a fascinating history. I do wish the submarine had been open for tours. That just means we'll have the perfect excuse to go back one day.

Round about 1983, I took my younger brother and toured USS Yorktown. At that time, the NS Savannah was also there. I had my brother sort of freaking out because while we were in the island structure, I found some open hatch ways and started exploring the spaces within. These areas were of course off limits at the time, but, a open door was just too inviting. The joys of doing a self guided tour. No one to tell you to keep out.

Love the story from C&Rsenal's podcast where Othais goes to find Drach on the ship.

if you are still there, see if the ships tactical data folder is still there. it will have turn radius and forward transfer for std and full rudder at full and flank, plus time to turn, this is always good stuff. Also, distance to stop from flank then BFE

Great video. I took a tour in the winter of 2000 when I was station at Weapons Station Charleston for training. It's a great ship She is, still in top shape. I enjoy the engineering part of the tour better. Nothing like standing Throttleman watch on Sea & Anchor detail with a set of Phones on answering Bells smartly and precisely. Though my Machinery was decades newer, it's really amazing how much they all are the same. 🤘🏻

I have visited all the ships at Patriots Point. The Yorktown was a treat; First time I had been aboard an Essex Class, and also going aboard the historic Laffey; My dad served aboard one of her sisters, the USS Moale, DD693, during WWII, and along with the USS Laffey at Okinawa. I’d been hearing about the Laffey since I was a kid, and had read about her, “the ship that would not die,” so it was a privilege to be able to go board and visit such a historic ship, of the same class my dad served aboard. My dad also visited the ships and took photos by the hatch near his old battle station, the stern 20 mm antiaircraft guns, which were removed after World War II.

I grew up not far from patriot's point and visited York Town, Laffey and Clamagore many times. It is so sad what is happening to Clamagore now... I wish they had pulled her out of the water to preserve her better. I hope you you have a tour of Laffey coming soon. She has such a good story in her own right.

When I went for a school trip in spring 2004, they also had a WW2 submarine, and a WW2 Coast Guard cutter as well.USS Laffey was not open or was not part of the tour that was booked, I wonder where the sub and cutter went? They were in the vicinity of the Marina you show early in the video (just beyond USS Laffey). A few years later the Blue Angels did an air show with a fantastic fly over of USS Yorktown. Great memories, and an even better museum. Genuinely the only good part of growing up in SC.

My father was USA before WW2 ever started. He was advanced rapidly after Pearl Harbor because he was a metallurgist and expert fabricator. He tells of using hollowed coconut logs as fake artillery when parts of the Japanese fleet steamed by and many similar adventures. He was sent to Pearl Harbor just before Coral Sea , assigned to take over a fleet repair shop. He ended up on board Yorktown for Midway, working all through the battle and then afterward, trying to save the ship and ended up on the water. Rescued quickly , he ended up assigned as a Sea Bee. To him, the fighting lady was a fitting tribute to HIS Yorktown.

We just toured the Yorktown today while we are staying next door at the Charleston Harbor Marina. Very cool museum.

Ah, the good'ol Essex class. Worked on Intrepid as a tour guide back in the 90s...fun times.

Great tour Drach. I visited the ships at Patriots Point a couple times when I was a student at the USN nuclear power school in nearby Goose Creek, early in my naval career, but that was before I developed my current interest in naval history. I need to make trip down there at some point and tour the ships again.

Regarding the chronometers, I was a Quartermaster (navigation) aboard the USS Nicholas (FFG-47). As late as 2009 we still retained 3 chronometers and part of our watch-standing duties was to record the time deviations of the three.

Your picture was a steam drum. The is the top of the boiler. The cylinders in there are moisture separators.

I toured that ship around 1984-85. It was awesome. One of my favorite boyhood memories. It was like WWII came alive for me. Around that time I also toured the BB-60 Alabama in Mobile and CV-16 Lexington when it was in Pensacola. I got to tour the BB-63 Missouri from 1999-2003 when I was a U.S. Marine stationed in Hawaii.

It's still heartbreaking that The NS Savannah was moved to Baltimore. That's a fun ship to see.

Laffey was my first ship - 1973 I had a month underway as a Sea Cadet from Alexandria VA to Boston and Rockland Maine.

Nice job covering this great ship! I only live about 80 miles north of there, so I have no excuse for not making the trip!

The piece of equipment in the fire room is a boiler steam drum. The “coffee can” looking appurtenances inside it are steam separators. They reduce the amount of moisture carryover exiting this portion of the boiler.

I went aboard her sister the Lexington a few years ago and forward of the chains is a secondary bridge. From photos you can see three port holes that they would have look out of. The most interesting part of it is that all the dials and gauges are in Japanese! That's because it was used as the Japanese carrier bridge in the movie Tora Tora Tora and they never bothered to relabel any of it because the space was never used for its intended purpose. If you get the chance, I highly recommend the hard hat tour option.

The "intercomm" panel you point out is/was basic communication gear on every Navy ship, with dedicated circuits (1MC, 2MC, etc) for ship control and maneuvering orders. Sound powered telephones, believe it or not, were the primary means of interstation communications, because they don't require power and they don't make noise that you can hear thousands of yards away from your ship. My last Navy vessel was the Los Angeles class nuclear attack submarine USS Philadelphia SSN 690, which incorporated MC systems, sound powered phones, synchro-servo repeaters for the engine order telegraph, gyro compass repeaters, depth gages, stern planes, fairwater planes and rudder controls that were hydraulic assisted human input systems. We did everything, in terms of controlling the ships attitude, depth, speed and weapon deployment manually with hydraulic, pneumatic or electrical assist, unlike the fly by wire boats out there now.

Oh my gosh I was just there with my son in early February. His Trail Life troop went there for a weekend. We had a blast, except it was fairly cold. I was very impressed. There was so much to see and do. One thing we both liked was all the various scale models they had of ships and aircraft. And I’m not talking little plastic ones. I mean huge, six and seven foot hand built models of aircraft carriers, battleships, and cruisers. They were truly impressive. I want to go back with the whole family at some point.

>Drach likes Squawks too. I knew I liked you for some reason 😀 What a great little jet that was procurement and goal-oriented design done right.

I've been on this ship twice. The second time, I got the bridge to myself for a good 20 minutes. Quite a treat. Also, this video does not mention, but there are a bunch of WW2 era aircraft(including a dauntless) in the lower deck If you're ever near Charleston, SC, I highly recommend this, the Laffee, and the Vietnam exhiibit -- all at Patriots Point. Between ships, planes, and a simulated infantry base, you're really getting multiple exhibits for the price of one. Note -- If you have to choose between these ships and Fort Sumter, go with these ships. Ft Sumter is OK, but most of it was blasted to bits during the Civil War. .

Thank you. You're bringing up a lot of memories. In 1968, my ship, the U.S.S. John R. Craig DD 885 escorted the Yorktown during part of our Westpac cruise. We were enroute to Vietnam, when word was received that the North Koreans had taken the U.S.S. Pueblo, and we and another tin can, the U.S.S. Herbert J. Thomas DD 833 were diverted up to the Sea of Japan to await further orders. From my watch station, as Quartermaster of the watch, I saw the Yorktown take green water, not merely foam, over her bow, and almost completely engulf her island. her fight deck is 60 feet above her waterline! Now imagine what we, a little destroyer were experiencing! Destroyers are nicknamed "tin cans" for a reason.

Great to see this, I live in Charleston and have been an annual pass holder for a few years

It's great to see Yorktown's airgroup getting fresh paint. We were lucky enough to visit in September 2021, and the jets on the flight deck were looking pretty tired. The older aircraft, kept on the hanger deck, were in much better shape. The ship also pays great tribute to its contributions during the early days of space exploration. Yorktown was used to recover capsules after splashdown. Laffey was incredibly memorable. Standing in turret 5-3 gave me chills. Please give yourselves enough time to check out Charleston. It's an wonderful city.

Visited it before the pandemic. First time in the US and was not aware ameribros had these ships just lying around. Best trip ever !

I visited Yorktown and Laffey when I was there in either May or June of 2022. I'm a merchant mariner cadet and sailed to Charleston on my summer training cruise aboard USTS KENNEDY. Kennedy is a steam ship like Yorktown and Laffey so it was really cool for me to get to see the engine room and machinery spaces knowing what everything was and what it did.

No way! You went to Patriots Point! I loved going there as a kid! I hope you had fun.

For anyone who's interested, the Skywarrior's MTOW was 82,000lbs, making it the heaviest carrier-borne aircraft in USN service. Next up, the mighty Tomcat was launched at a (very impressive) 74,000lb MTOW.

My grandfather served on USS Yorktown during WWII. The only bomb that every damaged her exploded right outside the room where he bunked. He would have been in there when the bomb hit if he hadn't been stopped for a chat moments before the attack. He told me his bunk was soaked with seawater and had someone's severed hand on it. He was ordered to throw the hand overboard.

Dad was on Yorktown CV5. He was an Electrician.He was supposed to come to CV10 but they sent him back to the California BB44

24:57 I’m glad to see a USS Barb reference

Drach, I live In South Carolina and have been on Yorktown several times, but it's been many years. I was planning to come down to see you last year. Unfortunately those plans were torpedoed due to other people's irresponsibility and I missed out. Hopefully I will be able to make it if you are able to pay us another visit in the future.

I would love to see a segment on the Bat radar-guided glide bomb. Might be an opportunity to collaborate with those winged things channels again. I remember spending a night aboard as a Scout. One of the docents had a ww2 flight sim with pedals, throttle, and stick.

I got to visit Patriots Point back in the 90s when they still also had the submarine CLAMAGORE and USCGC INGHAM on display. Excellent museum!

My Civil Air Patrol squadron spent the night on this ship when I was a teen. I ate lunch underneath the Phantom on the cat. Definitely my favorite overnight stay

Very good video tour of CV-10 Yorktown. I think it would be cool, since CV-10 is a legacy ship, to have air group kill boards for CV-5 Yorktown air groups.

I believe at one time the Yorktown had an NAA RA-5C Vigilante, but they either gave it to another Museum or it was lost while being transported by a helo and had to be dropped to prevent it and the helo crashing.

I remember visiting this ship as a child! A beautiful vessel with a remarkable history

The aviation contingent on the Essex class carriers that I had the pleasure of flying from in 1967-1969 referred to that platform seen at the 3 minute mark as "Buzzards Roost". As stated the platform was on the after side of the island at the 07 level (7 levels above the main deck (on Essex class carriers, the main deck was the hanger deck and the flight deck was the 03 level). That platform was a good opportunity for members of the Air Group and Ships Company to watch landings but not be in the way. The board at the 5:30 mark shows West Coast ASW Squaddrons VS-23 and VS-25 along with the Helo Squadron HS-4. When she came around to the East Coast to replace the decomissioned and scrapped USS Randolph (CVS-15), CAG-56 with VS-24 (the squadron I flew with), VS-27 and the Helo Squadron HS-3.

Excellent tour, Drach. Thank you!