Warbird Information Exchange

$81 million the cost to restore the WWII aircraft carrier Yorktown
in Featured Article, War Articles / by Jack / on August 19, 2012 at 20:37 /

Restoring the World War II aircraft carrier Yorktown is estimated to cost more than $81 million. The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that an environmental study of the 888-foot ship must be completed before any repair can begin. A report is expected by January. Patriots Point Executive Director Mac Burdette believes it will cost about $6 million to clean compartments of any chemicals and liquids.

No money has been budgeted for repairs, and most of the work likely will be a decade away. The aging warship has been docked at Patriots Point since 1975. Repair estimates include about $20 million in hull work. Other major costs include $10 million to replace the pier, $6 million to paint the Yorktown’s exterior and $5 million to replace the flight deck.

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/feature ... ktown.html

I dont see how they can raise that kind of money. Is the Yorktown destined to be an artifical reef?

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

I toured it in 1998 and was disappointed in it's run down condition. I'm sure the volunteers and the museum do what they can to maintain it, but I think it's just too much.

I think the next 10 years are so are going to see some tough times and decisons made for a variety of museum ship hulls in the USA. We have a relatively robust number of carriers, submarines and battleships- all in need of care, and most not making nearly the the kind of income to sustain major repair and upkeep. Honestly a few well preserved hulls might be better than a larger number of marginally maintained ones, but the politics, emotions, geograpahy and volunteer bases make any choices difficult. Don't get me wrong I love them all, even (sometimes especially) the rusty ones, but it will be interesting to see which ones make it. I would like to see at least one Essex class get a dry moat so it can make it for many more generations.

Many will end up as reefs within 10 years. Whats the latest with the Olympia? Is it still headed for Davy Jones' locker?

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Ain't no sunshine when she's gone!

They should think about preserving more ships in drydocks. As long as it's in the water, restoration costs will skyrocket.

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Magister Aviation
It's all in my book

Frankly, I don't understand how short-sighted people can be when they take on a project like this. When the ship is good condition, it's a great idea. a generation later when it's about to sink, the very people who have neglected the ship for years suddenly cry because the ship is about to sink at it's berth.
I swear the proposed concept for the USS Texas to display it out of water really should be looked at by all museum ships that are capable of this.
There’s a group out of Portland that is looking to have the USS Ranger brought there as a museum ship. How can they not see that they’re going to be in this exact predicament as the Yorktown in 20-30 years? http://ussranger.org/timelines/

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

Wasn't there a movement afoot that was aiming to bring the Olympia to the old dry dock at Parris Island?

Interesting thread, BTW.

Mike

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"So there I was, knee deep in a river I couldn't pronounce..."

I visited the Yorktown for the first time last week, and while she looked pretty good, she obviously needs some work. This is just what was visible from the outside..I don't know what the interior structure is like.



Some of the aircraft on the flight deck were looking rough, particularly the A-6.



As mentioned in the article, the flight deck itself really needs replacement.



It would be a shame to lose her. This was the first time I'd ever even seen a carrier up close, much less been aboard..It really is a magnificent sight. Touring the interior spaces was absolutely fascinating, and the ship really has been turned into a very nice museum. On that note, I'm of the opinion that if a ship is to be retired and put on display, it needs to be treated like a building rather than a vehicle. It needs to be out of the water permanently dry docked..maybe surrounded by a freshwater reflecting pool for effect, but the ship itself needs to be isolated from the corrosive saltwater environment as much as possible. Yes, it would cost a massive amount of money in the short term, but save far more in continual maintenance over the long haul, and the ship would last much longer.

SN

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There's a reason for that. They refuse to clean that plane off because its in the same shape it was in in Afganistan

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And boys and girls, this is the reason why so many ships as museums are in dire straights now. The people who accept these ships can't think down the road when someone long after them will be saying this, too.
These ships were covered in sailors almost 24/7 all year 'round, scraping, painting and maintaining them. A group of a few dozen (if even that) retired volunteers don't have a hope in heck of keeping that level of effort going, no matter how big their hearts are for the task!

As for the Hornet, I'm still seething about a visist to Alameda my wife and I did a few years ago on our SF trip and while it was the middle of the week and during scheduled open hours for the ship, she was closed tight as a drum, no signs on the gate as to why it was closed and nobody parked anywhere. It's like the entire state knew it was closed but us. That was probably the only chance I will ever have to see her, too. At that moment, walking back to the rental car, if someone had handed me a detonator attached to scores of limpet mines on the lower hull, I'd have pressed it and walked away without even turning back to watch her sink at the pier, that's how ticked off I was at the moment...

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Life member, 91st BG Memorial Association
Owner, 1944 Willys MB #366014
Former REMF (US Army, O3)

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I was reading an excellent article of the challanges of trying to maintain ships, and the scenarios above were listed as the most common - not that people shouldn't try, but failure through the sheer size of the entropy faced is more likely to overwhelm than in any other form of preservation.

Funny thing is that all the oldest transport artefacts we have are ships; from the Viking ships in Scandanavia (the ones at Raskilde in Denmark are incredible) to the oldest vehicle we have, the Ship of Cheops or Khufu: thousands of years older than any aircraft and a successful essentially complete (if not 'serviceable') preservation of a vehicle. From over four and a half thousand years ago!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khufu_ship

The killer is water; buildings decay from the water from above (which is why a roof is the most important item to have 'sound') and ships in water are right up against it, from above and below. If you can put your ship in a stone box in a desert, you're gold.

Regards,

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James K

"Switch on the underwater landing lights"
Emilio Largo, Thunderball.

www.VintageAeroWriter.com

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