Power workers are busy working on restoring electrical power to the ship and we are busy getting ready to open back up to the public. It will be a little longer to prep Laffey for visitors, but not much longer. Here are images showing the new positioning at Patriots Point and we look forward to [...]
The morning was cool, crisp and clear, perfect for bringing the famous warship home. Welcome home Laffey, we are excited to have her back where she belongs and now preparations will begin to get her open for the public once again. Stay tuned for updates and the opening celebration we plan to hold!
True to her wartime name, “The Ship That Would Not Die,” the famous World War II destroyer Laffey will return to life as a museum ship sometime during the week of January 22-27th. The Laffey was moved from Detyen’s Shipyard last January to a pier on Shipyard Creek and now her return is in sight! [...]
Patriots Point volunteer Ernest “Larry” Melin recently celebrated his 90th birthday onboard USS Yorktown. Officially, our oldest living volunteer, Larry served in the Army Air Corp from 1942 to 1946. After his enlistment, his aptitude and high grades had the Army Air Corp pointing him towards pilot training, but just as quickly the need for [...]
As we prepare for Laffey’s return in two weeks…lets take a look back at Laffey’s visit and repair work at Deteyen’s Shipyard back in 2009. Below are images of Laffey being worked on in drydock…see more on our Flickr site…
We will be taking a look at a few old Laffey posts as we near her successful return to Patriots Point the week of 22-27 January 2012. Today we’ll look at the post of Laffey’s departure 0n 19 August 2009 from Patriots Point to have her hull replaced. Former crew members, Patriots Point staff and [...]
On 03 January 1944, Commander Frank Erickson, United States Coast Guard, flew his Sikorsky HNS-1 Hoverfly helicopter in history’s first mercy flight. After an explosion sank the destroyer USS Turner, DD-648, Commander Erickson delivered over 40 units of blood plasma to a hospital at Sandy Hook, New Jersey. He had launched amid snow squalls from [...]
On 19 December 1962, an E-2A Hawkeye, flown by naval aviator Lieutenant Commander Lee Ramsey was catapulted from the flightdeck of the USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) during the first at sea test of a nose-tow gear designed to replace the catapult bridle system and reduce the time required between aircraft launches on aircraft carriers. This gear [...]
The McDonnell F-4 Phantom (eventually became McDonnell-Douglas and then bought by Boeing) was a tandem-seat fighter-bomber designed to fill the U.S. Navy’s fleet defense fighter role. The advent of Soviet jet bombers with long range anti-ship missiles dictated that the U. S. Navy acquire a fighter that could quickly climb and accelerate to intercept the [...]
On 13 December 1960 an A-3J Vigilante crewed by naval aviator Commander Leroy Heath and bombardier-navigator Lieutenant Henry Monroe ascended to an altitude of 91,450.8 feet with a payload of 1,000 kilograms (2,402.62 pounds). The setting was overhead Edwards Air Force base in California and the official world record broke the previous record by the [...]
