Written by Jessica Holdman, SC Daily Gazette
Crews have finished removing 2 million gallons of hazardous fuel, oil and contaminated water from the belly of a World War II-era aircraft carrier anchored in Charleston Harbor.
The completion last month of the two-year-long, $31.6 million cleanup effort at the USS Yorktown averts the potential of the aging battleship-turned-maritime-museum springing a toxic leak.
“The USS Yorktown was a ticking environmental time bomb, with the risk of disaster increasing each year, and now it has been safely and successfully defused,” Gov. Henry McMaster said in a statement Wednesday celebrating the project’s success.
“Had these materials leaked, they would have caused catastrophic damage to Charleston Harbor, destroying marshes and estuaries, killing marine life, and threatening industries that support thousands of jobs across the Lowcountry,” McMaster added. “Instead, we took action to prevent that disaster and protect South Carolina.”
The USS Yorktown came to South Carolina in 1975. The ship, built in 1943 to replace the original Yorktown sunk by a Japanese submarine in the Battle of Midway, saw tours in both World War II and the Vietnam War. At its peak, 3,300 sailors manned the 820-foot vessel, which is now a national historic landmark that welcomes some 300,000 visitors annually.
When the United States military decommissioned and gifted the ship to the Palmetto State, however, it did so on an as-is basis.
The fuel and oil that had once kept the ship running remained on board for decades. After nearly 50 years mired in pluff mud, the ship’s outer hull began to corrode, posing a serious risk to the state’s pristine beaches and $29 million tourism industry.
Using federal COVID-19 pandemic relief funds, the state brought in contractors in the fall of 2023 who pumped out nearly 600,000 gallons of oily water and 9 tons of sludge from a portion of the ship’s 428 liquid storage tanks and removed 4.5 tons of asbestos. Divers also patched 35 holes in the ship’s hull.
Then, in a second phase that began in February, workers from HEPACO LLC, Shipwright, Inc., and Isla Maritime pulled out the remaining 1.4 million gallons of fuel and oil, as well as 9 tons of asbestos insulation.
Crews added back freshwater to the now clean tanks to ensure the Yorktown remains stable.
The former warship has become the crown jewel of the state-owned Patriot’s Point Naval and Maritime Museum visited by 300,000 tourists each year.
“I am proud of this team for identifying the need to act and working efficiently to mitigate the possibility of contamination, while preserving a significant historical landmark in our state,” Ben Duncan, who leads the state Office of Resilience, said in a statement.
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