[Milsurplus] Destruction of historic USS Clamagore SS-343 by Patriots Point Development Authority

[Glenn Little WB4UIV]

The submarine USS Clamagore (SS-343) was commissioned 28 June 1945 and 
was stricken from the roles of the US Navy on 27 June 1975.
She served the US Navy for 30 years.
She arrived at Patriots Point Naval Maritime Museum in 1979 and departed 
October 2022.
USS Clamagore was the last surviving Guppy III Balao class submarine and 
was the only one of its class certified to handle nuclear weapons.
She is now in Norfolk becoming the first museum ship to be scrapped.
USS Clamagore was designated as a National Historic Site 29 June 1989.
After forty one years of no or minimal maintenance, in violation of the 
contract signed by Patriots Point with the US Navy to get the ship, she 
is now too expensive to repair per Patriots Point.
Local submarine veterans did maintenance on the submarine until told by 
authorities at Patriots Point that they could no longer do this.
Patriots Point removed a lot of the superstructure and exterior piping 
causing a lot of visible surface rust and issues with maintaining 
sufficient air in the ballast tanks.
Patriots Point used this visual to persuade others that the ship could 
sink at any time, polluting Charleston harbor and becoming a hazard to 
navigation.
Patriots Point requested 2.1 Million dollars to make the submarine a reef.
The SC Governor vetoed the request and the legislative body overrode the 
veto taking the money from the education budget to reef the Clamagore.
The Clamagore Restoration and Maintenance Association (CRAMA) brought a 
law suit against Patriots Point in April, 2019 in an effort to preserve 
the ship.
This delayed the reefing timeline enough that the allocated funds 
reverted back to the original budget.
After a year a judge ruled that CRAMA did not have standing and Patriots 
Point proceeded with the plans to scrap this historic ship.

Other ships that Patriots Point neglected include:

NS Savannah arrived at Patriots Point, on loan from the US Maritime 
Association, in 1981 and departed in 1993, transferred back to her owner 
for shipyard repairs. Patriots Point’s rational was she did not bring in 
enough money.
NS Savannah is now in Baltimore, MD and is closed for general touring.

USCGC Camachi (WHEC-202) arrived in 1984 and departed in 1992 after 
being damaged by hurricane Hugo due to the way she was moored.
She was transferred to the South Carolina Department of Wildlife and is 
now a reef.

USCGC Ingram (WHEC-35) arrived in 1989 and departed in 2009 after being 
transferred back to Coast Guard because of the need for drydocking and 
the expense involved to repair the ship.
The Ingram is now in Key West, FL.


Patriots Point has demonstrated a lack of ability to maintain their assets.

Patriots Point has no oversight and this may be the reason that they do 
not take care of the artifacts entrusted to them.

Vessels currently at Patriots Point are the USS Yorktown (CV-10), 
arriving in 1975 is the only museum ship that cannot be moved and the 
USS Laffey (DD-724) arriving in 1981.
After almost sinking at the pier in 2008, due to lack of maintenance, 
the USS Laffey was taken to a shipyard for a multi-million dollar repair 
over the objections of Patriots Point management. Patriots Point is 
still paying off the loan to drydock and repair the USS Laffey.

Patriots Point has the dubious honor of being the first to scrap a 
museum ship.

Hopefully this will not continue.

CRAMA webpage with the donation contract: http://ussclamagore.org/

I know this was long, but, I think it is important for this to be known.
The above timelines were obtained from internet searches and personal 
knowledge.

73
Glenn
WB4UIV

-- 
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Glenn Little                ARRL Technical Specialist   QCWA  LM 28417
Amateur Callsign:  WB4UIVwb4uiv at arrl.net     AMSAT LM 2178
QTH:  Goose Creek, SC USA (EM92xx)  USSVI, FRA, NRA-LM    ARRL TAPR
"It is not the class of license that the Amateur holds but the class
of the Amateur that holds the license"
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