p52 May 2015

 

The next morning we took a ferry to Ft Sumter which lies in the middle of Charleston Harbor.  It was being built in 1860 and still unfinished when troops moved into it in Dec 1860.  On April 12, 1861 Confederates opened fire with artillery on Ft Sumter.  The Union surrendered on April 14.  Two years later the Union returned to bombard Ft Sumter for 20 months until the Confederates evacuated the Fort in Feb 1865.  What started as a three story fort was now mostly a pile of rubble.  The fort was not used again until 1898 when a battery was built.  It was used during WWI and WWII.  In 1948 it was transferred to the National Park Service.

Next to the ferry that takes you to Ft Sumter is the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, the USS Laffey destroyer, the USS Clamagore submarine, and a Vietnam War exhibit with helicopters and river boat.  The Yorktown, Laffey, and Clamagore all were in World War II.  The flight deck and hanger deck of the carrier have numerous aircraft including a F14, F18, and WWII Corsair.  You can tour multiple decks on both ships and can go through the submarine from torpedo room to command room.